CestLaJu

I made some new and worldly friends while on a day trip from Prague. One of them I met because we jointly decided to split this delicious looking ham that was roasting over an open spit in the Old Town Square. I had to run off to join a scheduled tour, but we met at the train station the following day, and she made a friend on the platform before I met up with her, and then we picked up another stray after we arrived in Kutna Hora. It never ceases to amaze me how minute splashes of fate can cause endless ripples of connections and friendships.

Kutna Hora is a well-preserved town about 1-hour outside of Prague. It began in 1142 with the founding of the first Cistercian Monastery in Bohemia. This evolved into a town when German Miners began to mine for silver in the mountainous region of Kuttenberg that was part of the Monastery land. In 1300, King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia issued the code Ius Regale Monanorum, a legal document specifying the technical terms and conditions necessary for operation of the mines. The city than underwent economic boom, and expanded rapidly competing with Prague in all aspects.

However, as we know with all great cities, they tend to fall as well. This began with an unsuccessful attack by Emperor Sigismund on the Taborites during the Hussite Wars in the early 1400s. After Bohemia passed to the Hapsburg Monarchy of Austria, the richest mine was flooded in the mid-1500s, effectively shutting down the city’s main industry. In 1770, the area was further devastate by fire, and the mines were officially abandoned at the end of the 18^th century.

After struggling with some navigation issues, we managed to make our way to the Sedlec Ossuary; it is more commonly called the Roman Catholic ‘bone-chapel.’ This stems from the interior decor that is estimated to consist of the bones of between 40,000 to 70,000 people. While this may seem dark and ominous, it can be understood when one considers the mass graves required in the mid-14^th century, during the Black Plague, and the early-15^th century, during the Hussite Wars. After 1511, a blind monk was assigned the task of exhuming skeletons and stacking the bones, this resulted in macabre pyramids, a chandelier, and a coat of arms.

The visuals I saw both made me shudder in mild fear, since it is still common to associate bones with death and decay. But I also began to understand the chapel as a final resting place for peace. The bleached and starkness of the coloring doesn’t signify emptiness or being alone, but it speaks of purity, and entering the next life cleansed of sins and regrets.

We then stopped by the St. Barbara Church. (Of course! Another Church!); It is one of the most famous Gothic Churches in central Europe. It make’s sense that St. Barbara is the patron saint of minors, therefore a religious building attributed to her is appropriate. Construction of this sprawling cathedral began in 1388, but work was interrupted multiple times and it was not complete until 1905. It doesn’t even live up to the original design, as the it called for a larger church up to twice the size of the present one.