I went to Brno for two reasons. The Capuchin Crypt, and the Ossuary. Nothing but death in this post.

The crypt is beneath the Capuchin monastery. Throughout the years the brothers as well as some benefactors of the order were buried in said crypt. The benefactors in coffins, the brothers simply laying on the ground with a brick under their heads as dictated by the order. Rather conveniently the crypt turned out to be a nice dry environment in which the bodies slowly dried and were mummified rather than decomposing, and there they remain. The mummification wasn’t perfect of course, so the bodies look pretty wretched today, somewhere between mummies and skeletons.

The Ossuary in Brno is apparently the second largest after the Paris Catacombs. Naturally this piqued my interest. Unfortunately, while it’s true that they did find the most bones stored in tunnels under the city, they removed most of the bones and what you can visit today is quite a small area that really lacks authenticity. Nevertheless, there were piles of bones and skulls, so I enjoyed it.

Photos be here. I’ll put the photos of the Ossuary first, with a warning before you get to the photos of mummies in case you’re squeamish.