If your visiting Prague, Czech Republic it’s worth it to make the trip out to the Sedlec Ossuary Bone Church in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic. Keep in mind the bone church area is fairly small so you need to add other sights to get the most out of the trip, I’ll share what we did below. It’s a good 1/2 day trip and then you can spend the other half of the day back in Prague. Rick Steve’s also has a self guided walking tour in his Czech Republic book. There is also a treasury there that is supposed to be really neat but we didn’t have time to fit it in on our trip.
We drove to Prague so we had a car and chose to drive the 1 hour out to Kuntá Hora. It’s an easy and nice drive but you can also take the train, I’ll share that info as well, but if you choose the train you’ll have limited options for getting into the city area. There are restrooms to the right of the church down the street a bit, you’ll see a sign for toilets. Have some change, Krona is best, because you’ll need to pay to use them. You can use Euro but the exchange is rip off. 10 korna (40 cents US) or €0.50 (54 cents US).
If you want to take the train it’s a 45 min ride from the main train station in Prague. You can use this website to figure out times and rates. It would’ve been $22 for our family of 2 adults and 2 kids round trip if we had decided to go that route. If you take the train you can pay the shuttle at the Ossuary to take you into the town and back.
Our Day:
Drove to the Sedlec Ossuary (Bone Church)
Visited the Sedlec Ossuary only and skipped the upper part of the church.
Drove into the city of Kuntá Hora & found parking
Walked to St. Barbara’s Cathedral
Lunch at V Ruthardce
Stone Fountain
Drove back to B&B in Prague
Castle Quarter
Choco Cafe
Dinner
Entrance to the Ossuary
The tickets for entrance are right when you enter the Ossuary entrance to the left. Prices are 90 CZK adult & 60 CZK child or you can get a family ticket for 240 CZK for 2 adults & 2 kids. You can get a combo ticket for the Ossuary and the church above for 110 CZK adult and 70 CZK child. We chose to just do the Ossuary.
A view of someone peaking out from the church above.
The history behind it is what makes the experience unique. The church was founded in 1142 when Kutná Hora was a happening place due to the silver mining. People were buried here but the families had to pay a high fee on a regular basis to keep the spot, due to spaces being limited. If payments stopped the bones were dug up and the monks used them to create the displays inside. The spot was then used for another person, and so on. There are 40,000 skeletons inside the ossuary! You can read more about it here.
Keep in mind the Ossuary is small, it’ll probably take 10-20 mins depending on how many pictures you want to take. You walk down some stairs to the small area. It does have some pretty fascinating things to look at so you may stand around staring at them for awhile.
There are fenced areas on the sides and back walls with piles of human skulls. Yes, it does have a bit of a creepy factor to it.
The chandelier is said to be made out of one of every bone in the human body. Can’t say you’ll see another one of those anytime soon. I’m sure many hours went into creating that piece!
There is also a case that has some skulls in it that have damage to them from the Hussite war.
A few more images of the decor created by the Monks
It’s literally filled from floor to ceiling with bones, I guess with 40,000 they have to go somewhere!
There is also a small chapel area.
After walking around the inside we decided to stroll around the cemetery grounds before heading into the city.
We drove to the city next and used one of the Parking lots but you can also pay the shuttle at the Ossuary to take you into the town for a fee per person.
I’ll do another post about Kutná Hora which will include info for parking, the St. Barbara’s Cathedral, and a yummy restaurant that we found from a friend who is a local. As well as a post for the information about Castle Quarter in Prague.
We really enjoyed our little half day trip out to the Kuntá Hora area and if you have time I’d highly recommend adding it to your plans.
Have you been to the Sedlec Ossuary? What did you think?
Know Before You Go
What: Sedlec Ossuary Bone Church – Kuntá Hora, Czech Republic
How To Get There: It is an hour drive from Prague or you can take the 45 minute train ride. GPS addy: Zámecká, 284 03 Kutná Hora, Czech Republic
Parking: We parked on the street by the church for free. If it’s full you can also park at church down the street but it’s a few mins walk away.
Cost: €90/$3.63 adults, €60/$2.42 kids or family pass for 240/$9.68 CZK for 2 adults & 2 kids.
Traveling with little kids: Bone church is not stroller friendly. You can use a stroller for walking in the city area if you go there but some of the paths we used were bumpy and quaint so a carrier would probably be best.
How long: Plan on at least 15-30 mins for the Bone Church & grounds, more if you plan on hitting a few others things that way.
Leave a Reply