hřbitov Všech Svatých

The Cemetery Church of All Saints in Sedlec, on the edge of Kutná Hora, looks like an ordinary parish cemetery chapel from the outside — yet beneath it lies one of the most unusual interiors in the Czech Republic, a chapel built almost entirely from human bones. The site sits in the Sedlec district next to the grounds of a former Cistercian abbey, and it has long drawn travelers looking for something well outside the usual sightseeing circuit.

How did this cemetery become so famous?

The story begins in the 13th century, when the abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Sedlec was sent by King Přemysl Otakar II to the Holy Land. He returned with a handful of soil from Golgotha and scattered it over the local cemetery grounds. Word spread quickly, and burial in this "holy soil" became so desirable across the region that people from far beyond Sedlec sought to be interred there — including, over time, victims of plagues and wars. The number of burials soon outgrew the available ground.

Why was an ossuary built underneath?

When the church was constructed on the cemetery grounds around 1400, it was designed with two levels: an upper chapel and a lower crypt intended to hold remains unearthed whenever older graves needed to make room for new burials. Bones that had to be cleared from existing plots were moved into this crypt. Over the centuries, the space accumulated an ever-growing store of skeletal remains of largely unrecorded origin.

What does the interior look like today?

In 1870, the local Schwarzenberg family commissioned woodcarver František Rint to bring order to the mass of bones stored in the crypt. The result of his work is what visitors see today: a chandelier, garlands, a coat of arms, and other decorative compositions all assembled from human bones. The ossuary is estimated to hold the remains of between 40,000 and 70,000 people.

How to visit

Sedlec lies right at the edge of central Kutná Hora, easily reached by train or car from Prague. Because of its proximity to the town's other historic sites, a visit to the ossuary is usually combined with a walk through Kutná Hora's medieval center in a single day trip.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the same place as the famous Sedlec Ossuary? Yes — the Cemetery Church of All Saints is the building beneath which the Sedlec Ossuary is located.

How many bones does the crypt contain? Estimates place the number at 40,000 to 70,000 skeletons, gathered over centuries.

Who arranged the bones into their current form? Woodcarver František Rint, commissioned by the Schwarzenberg family, completed the work in 1870.

Why did this cemetery become so popular in the Middle Ages? Because of soil brought back from Golgotha by the monastery's abbot, which gave the site a reputation as consecrated ground.