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Thursday, 30 June 2011 00:00 |
Earth from the Holy Land was scattered in a local cemetery under the rule of Ottokar II. Victims of the plague epidemic in 1318, about 30,000 bodies, were buried here.
Bones were stored in the lower chapel after the Hussite wars when the cemetery was phased out. Its interior was remodelled in 1709 by the famous architect Jan Blažej Santini Aichel. It was probably at this time when altars and bone decorations were created; the ossuary decoration as we know it today originated in 1870 when it was renovated.
The remains of some 40,000 people are estimated to be stored here.
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