Church of Bones/Dead Dog
An interesting piece of history. I was looking around for pictures of old temples and their history and I ran across the Sedlec Ossuary.
I am absolutely facinated by this church and definitely plan to visit there sometime. It is in the Czech Republic and decorated entirely by human bones. Real human bones, about 40,000 sets of them, that were dug up by a half-blind monk (and probably some other people) to allow room for “new guests.”
My friend Coryn was telling me about this neighbor of hers that has goats, who keeps feuding with her other neighbor who has this large dog. The neighbor with goats thinks the dog has been killing off his goats, and he warned the owner that if he catches the dog, he was going to shoot it. Well apparently yesterday he caught it, and followed it around all morning till he was able to get a good shot. Coryn heard the gun go off and ran outside and heard the dog screaming in agony. And the guy shot it again, killing it.
On one hand this really pisses me off. To go through such extremes and kill the poor animal. At the same time I’m pissed off at the dogs owner for being so irresponsible and not keeping the dog on a chain or a fenced in yard or -something-. Especially after the guy warned her repeatedly. The dog didn’t deserve to die, and I guess I blame both parties for allowing it to happen.
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5 Responses to “Church of Bones/Dead Dog”
May 19th, 2003 at 8:04 pm
Hey you, been meaning to email you, but I just couldn’t wait to say, WOW! Thank you so much for pointing out the Sedlec Ossuary. I’d not heard of it before. Fascinating. I’m pouring through the picture galleries on that site that you linked. *hugs* Expect an email soon. Sorry I’m so behind.
May 19th, 2003 at 8:05 pm
Oh, and I completely agree about the dog. Both parties were very much at fault. What a very sad situation…
May 21st, 2003 at 10:09 pm
that place sounds very interesting indeed!! but scarey!!
June 12th, 2003 at 10:37 pm
Wow. That church is a trip. And, things are strange in the country (I’m assuming they were rural-ish goats). In high school I lived across the street from a ranch, and had many a dog threatened by a farmer. Livestock is expensive….
March 31st, 2004 at 8:44 pm
I went to the ossuary last month and must say, it’s a creepy place. 40,000 bones arranged in the most fascinating patterns! I highly recommend people go and check this place out if they’re in Bohemia. To make art out of death is certainly nothing new, but within the setting of this little gothic chapel basement… just stunning.
I found a good site with 60 high-quality pictures of the display and the church from the outside. It’s at
http://www.slackertravel.com/fpe/pictures/Czech_Republic/Sedlec/sedlecthumbs.html
Actually, the whole site is cool for armchair travelers who want to see a ton of pictures and read stories of other travelers.
Good stuff!