Reasons Why I Travel

One might think that a main reason for my desire to travel is for the wonderful crap I can buy – with the picture below as a perfect example – but to be honest I buy that more for other people (my very lucky family and friends) and the conversations that happen just as they open them…

Lucky Gift Recipient:  Wow! You shouldn’t have. (always said in a very understated way)

Me:  I know, but I saw it & knew you just had to have it. (always said in a very excited & genuine way)

Wow!  Could these shirts I buy get any punnier?

No, the reason I travel is because I like to see and explore new things (taking summer camp goals a little far, maybe?) and then, of course, to experience things that I cannot do at home in my usual life.  A couple of days ago was such a great reminder of that.  Where did I go? Where else, but a church… or a chapel to be precise.. Here are a couple of pictures:

Seems innocent enough, yes?

And then you walk in...

IHE - Jesus, The Savior of Humanity (Loose translation)

 If you’re thinking, “WTF?”  I can assure you and say, you aren’t seeing things… they really are bones.  Human bones.   (Does my comment on Facebook about ‘no body’ to spend the day with make a little more sense now?  Yes, it was hilarious and witty, wasn’t it?)  I know you’re all just dying to hear the story.  Well, in 1278 a monk left Sedlec (the town where this chapel is – about an hour out of Prague) to go to Jerusalem.  While he was there he supposedly took some soil from the spot where Jesus was crucified and brought it back to Sedlec.  He then sprinkled that dirt around the cemetery that’s attached to the chapel.  This then became the place of choice to be buried for not only the wealthy folk of the time, but regular folk too.  Almost like prime real estate for the dead… Pretty clever way to drum up some business, yeah?

A chalice as you enter (there are two)

A close up shot of the pyramid below

These pyramids of bones are not tied together.  The bones just are sitting on each other in a nice pile.

 Now in 1318, there was a really bad flu that went around and it killed a load of people.  30,000 of them from the area were then buried here…  (That bad flu, by the way, is known today as ‘the plague’… you may have heard about it) Combine that with a ton of victims from the Hussite war in the 1400s and you are a little overloaded. Bones started piling up... So, a half blind monk just started putting them next to the chapel itself.  Um, I really don’t know what to say to that…

It's not a place I felt comfortable doing the cheesy grin

This chandelier uses EVERY bone in the body

 So, it’s now the 1700s and this little town that only has a population of about 300* (I don’t know the actual population, but it’s quite small) is overloaded with bones that have continued to pile up next to the chapel and they’re wondering what to do with them… I would have loved to be a part of that conversation…

Church Dude (CD) 1:  What should we do with all these bones? 

Church Dude (CD) 2:  Maybe we should expand the cemetery and rebury them?

CD 1:  Hmm, that is one option…

CD 2: Well, how about we burn them and then spread the ashes around the graves so they are still with the sacred ground?

CD 1:  Yes, that could work too… but it would be hell on my sinuses…

CD 2:  Right.  Well how about this? Considering they’re already in a pile… why don’t we make them a little more decorative and start charging people to come and have a look?

CD 1:  That’s it! 

A shield made of human bones... definitely would scare the opposition

 So, approximately 40,000 bodies later, we have this unusual chapel.  Just an fyi, those church dudes weren’t all that bad… the bones they had left over after the 40,000 that are in use, were reburied… so that was nice of them…  So, it’s up to you to decide if they were being creative or if they were a little bit psycho.  Just so you know, the official line about the choice to have the bones there is as follows:

“Death doesn’t make any difference.  Redemption – the work of Christ’s salvation has been started by his incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection.  It will be completed by resurrection of all who died.  Everyone will be called to a new life.  Everyone who is good will thus gain the heavenly kingdom”

I think it’s trying to say we’re all equal before God, and that death on earth doesn’t matter as it’s the afterlife that we should be concerned with…  Well, that’s what the guy who worked there said anyway.

That snake makes it a little bit creepy - - not that a room full of bones doesn't do that in of itself

Lastly, I kept thinking about what the little kids used to think when they would be dragged to church by their parents?  I’m sure it was a good motivator for the parents to ensure the children sat still and behaved. 

Parent: You better behave or I’ll make sure the church get you and you end up as decoration at the church!

It probably worked all week, actually.  Then the service would just be the reminder to them as to the consequences for stepping out of line.  : )

A quick little video tour of the place - yes, I know... I'll never chew gum on camera again....Awful!

So, that was Kostnice.. also known as the Bone Chapel.  Definitely not something you would see in regular day to day life… and days like this, where I see something so unreal, is why I have such an avid interest in traveling the world…