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.
Prague is just as beautiful as everyone says. It’s impossible not to look like a tourist there because your gaze is constantly pulled upwards to the incredible architecture looming overhead. Prague is also my least favourite city so far. You’ll want your gaze pulled upwards because at eye level all you’ll see are hordes of tourists and tourist traps. Admittedly, as a tourist, I am part of the problem, but I wish I hadn’t been.
I’ve been getting a little bit off the beaten path on my trip so far, but I’ve still been going to tourist sites. Prague has sadly taken touristy to the next level, and it was far from peak season while I was there. You’ll see in some of my photos just how packed the city was. It’s been years since I’ve been in Paris, but I don’t remember it being this crazy.
There was still some good however. St. Vitus Cathedral is a beautiful, looming, Gothic cathedral with one of the best interiors I’ve seen in a church. A towering vaulted ceiling is illuminated by sunlight sparkling from resplendent stained glass. It was pretty nice. I even managed to find an excellent attraction that was free of charge(!), which felt miraculous in Prague. I stumbled upon the St. Cyril and Methodist Cathedral, so I took a look inside. It was there that I discovered the church had a crypt, with free entry! Not only was it a crypt, but it was a crypt of historical significance. During the Second World War seven resistance fighters hid out and then fought their last stand in the crypt after assassinating the Nazi in command of Czechoslovakia. They had detailed information about Czechoslovakia during WWII, the plan and execution of the assassination, the horrific retribution of the Nazis upon the populous, and the eventual betrayal of the assassins’ location.
While in Prague I also made a day trip to the town of Kutna Hora, renowned for its ossuary. This was a chapel which has been decorated with bones and skulls. Basically, graveyards run out of space so they dig up the bones to make room and they store them inside. Soon, there are so many bones inside that they need to stack them neatly for efficient storage. Whoever’s tasked with stacking the bones gets bored and creates art out of them, such as a chandelier and a coat of arms. The church doesn’t mind this macabre display because it serves as a memento mori, a reminder that we will die, so we should lead a good life (although why bother given that Jesus has died for all our sins). Anyhow, I enjoy the macabre, so I enjoyed Sedlec Ossuary. If you don’t like the macabre, too bad. There’s even more dead bodies in the future of this blog.
And whither then? 