Kutna Hora

I went to Kutná Hora a few years ago, but I've always wanted to go back. Additionally, this was G's first trip to Prague, so of course, he had never been. Kutná Hora is about an hour east of Prague. Kutná Hora used to be a silver mining town that competed with Prague. Eventually, the silver dried up, so Kutná Hora lost out to Prague. Prague became the largest city in Bohemia and the capitol, and today, Kutná Hora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Arriving at the Kutná Hora train station mid-morning, G and I walked to the Sedlec Ossuary (Kostnice v Sedlci in Czech), known for its unusual decor. Inside the doors of the chapel, we found bones. These bones are organized into an alter, a chandelier, coat of arms, candelabras, and other decorations.  The land on which the church sits was originally founded as a cemetery. In the 1300s and 1400s, the church cemetery overflowed with victims of the Black Death and the Hussite Wars. Around 1400, a church with a lower chapel was built on the site. This chapel was used as an ossuary for the mass graves that were unearthed during its construction. In the last 1800s, a woodcarver named František Rint was commissioned to decorate the chapel with the bones in the ossuary. The goal was to create a reminder of how life is impermanent and death is inescapable.

After visiting the Sedlec Monastery, G and I walked the two or three kilometers to old town Kutna Hora. We wandered around the old town then walked through alongside the Jesuit College toward the Saint Barbara Church. The church was impressive from the outside; buttresses surrounded it. We paid to go inside to see the highly-decorated ceilings and stained-glass windows and explore.

We left the church. It was quite cold outside; we found a little cafe that sold hot chocolate and cappucino and warmed ourselves for awhile. The hour was getting late and we were aiming for the 7 PM train, so we walked back through town to the bus station to catch the bus to the train station. We had walked the four and a half kilometers from the train station to the old town and were too tired to walk the same distance back.

We arrived at the train station in plenty of time and boarded the train back to Prague.