Bones, Churches, Temples and Dancing Houses...

Human bones at the Sedlec Ossuary 

Hello everyone, we are getting ready to eat dinner and than head out on a night train to Krakow, so we just wanted to give you a quick update.

Melissa at the Sedlec Ossuary

Yesterday Orry and I went to a small town about an hour outside of Prague named Kutna Hora. Here we went to the Sedlec Ossuary, which is known for its inside decor...bones! Yes, that's right, the inside is decorated with human bones. Although the thought of this church may come off as creepy and demonic, it is anything but! But why is it made out of bones you may ask?

Bone chandelier containing all the bones in the body

During the 13th century, a priest traveled to Palestine and brought back to Bohemia with him soil from the said site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. When he returned home, he sprinkled the soil in a grave yard in the town of Sedlec (right outside of Kutna Hora). Because of this, many people in Bohemia wanted to be buried in this grave yard. Due to the amount of people buried in the grave yard, it began to become over crowded. Bones had to be dug up and were stored beneath the ossuary. In 1870, a local wealthy family who controlled the church commissioned an artist to redesign the church using the thousands of bones kept beneath the church. The result is the ossuary's current interior. One of the more focal peices of the ossuary is the chandelier, which contains every single bone in the body. Orry and I really enjoyed the ossuary, it was definitely worth the journey.

Ceiling of St. Barbara's with patrons' coat of arms

In Kutna Hora we also visited the St. Barbara's Cathedral, which was built for the silver miners who worked in Kutna Hora.

Today we walked around Prague. First we visited the Jewish section of the city, which contains a museum dedicated to the Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. One of the more notable sites we visited was the Pinkus Synagogue. Soon after the end of WWII the people of Prague turned the synagogue into a memorial in remembrance of all the Jews that had been killed. All of the walls of the synagogue are filled with the names of the millions of Jews that lost their lives during the holocaust. The synagogue also contained artwork created by the Jewish children held in Terezin, the Nazis 'model' concentration camp outside of Prague.  The children drew scenes of traveling to the camp on the train, pictures of there homes and family, Jewish holidays, and their future hopes and dream. Sadly, almost all of these children were eventually sent to Auschwitz and murdered. The museum at the synagogue was very emotional and powerful. I cannot even imagine what our visit to Auschwitz is going to be like tomorrow.

Dancing House

After the Jewish section we walked around Prague. We visited the John Lennon wall (Lennon who stood for peace and unity was an inspiration to the Czechs during their fight for independence), and the dancing house, which was inspired by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Prague definitely has some great architecture!

Yummy Czech hot chocolate and cheese cake

We also went to the famed Cafe Lourve, which once used to be a popular hangout for Franz Kafka and Albert Einstein. Here we had Czech hot chocolate and country cheese cake. The hot chocolate was delicious and not like the hot chocolate we are use to having. It was very thick, almost like hot chocolate pudding. So good!

Sorry I had to rush the descriptions at the end, we have to go eat now so we can catch our train!

Goodbye Praha!
-Melissa and Orry