Have you read “The Black Angel” by John
Connolly? No? Shame on you then! I hope after you’ve read this blog you’ll be running
to the nearest bookshop or your keyboard and order the book right away!
Connolly made the ossuary even more famous
after setting a key scene towards the ending of “The Black Angel” there, which
features his central characters Charlie Parker, Angel & Louis and one of his most memorable villains yet, the sinister Brightwell. I re-read
the scene before going to Sedlec and I even watched the video again where John
introduces the ossuary so wonderfully to his readers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvzqu5Td9aE
You can also find a great blog entry and much more background info on the ossuary by
John Connolly about Sedlec on his website: http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/journalism_sedlec.php
Sedlec is close to Kutna Horá and only a
little more than 70 kilometres, about an hour and ten minute drive away from
the beautiful city of Prague.
You can reach Sedlec from Prague either by train/bus although I’ve been told that the announcement and signs at
the train/bus stations are all in Czech and so I passed on that very cheap
alternative.
Sedlec is also enclosed in many daylong
tourist excursions (about 7-8 hours time) which include some more places in and
around Kutna Horá and cost about 50-70 Euros but considering I had just
spent 8 hours on the bus two days before and had to do so again the next day a
bus ride was not an option for me.
So I decided to splurge on a private ride to
Sedlec with a driver from the hotel.
My close friend Glynis commented our driver
looked like the Czech Richard Gere from the KGB. We have to be entirely
grateful to him as he saved us from a car crash reacting like what would have
done James Bond proud as a fucking douchebag almost crashed into us without
looking where he was going.
We arrived at the ossuary a little after 11
am and the sun was still unsure if it should continue fighting
with the heavy clouds or give up entirely for the day.
So the scenery at the cemetery and the
church was still a little eerie as I entered the doors and went down the few
steps leading into the heart of the ossuary itself.
Actually seeing is believing, but at the
first impression it was still hard to take in that the huge amount of bones
down there had once really all belonged to human beings and were not only props
on a film set.
When you are standing in the centre you are
welcomed by the huge and extraordinary chandelier made entirely out of bones –
every orthopaedist’s wet dream! Four pillars for candles with skulls encircle
the chandelier on the ground and I was a little disturbed to see cherubs residing
on the tops - not by the skulls themselves.
Now some may think that it is obscene,
deviant or unnatural to display human remains like that. I think it was a
wonderful way to avoid disposing of the bones and I couldn’t help admire the
creativity and the elaborate way the bones had been arranged by Frantisek Rint,
a local woodcarver, who had really let his imagination run wild as he had used
his skills for an entirely different material.
Surely one of the highlights of the
exhibition is the crest of arms of the Schwarzenberg family that had employed
Rint in the year 1870 in the first place.
Unfortunately, however, the quiet and
unusual place turned into some kind of a fairground when around noon hordes of
tourists started streaming into the place and the unique and peculiar mood was
immediately destroyed.
Another tourist questioned me if I found
the place eerie and if I could feel the presence of ghosts there. He was a
little disappointed when I told him the only thing eerie for me were the many
tourists and that I don’t believe in ghosts - poor chap. Next time I’ll lie just
for humanitarian reasons.
The bone church of Sedlec is really a
unique place and if you think about going to Prague you should spare a few
hours to make the trip to Sedlec – it is truly worth it!
Just take my advice and make it as early in
the morning as possible to avoid being run over by either crowds of people
and/or prams.
You can find more information about Sedlec
on Wikipedia and of course the official website.
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