Location: Kutna Hora, South Bohemia Map
Kutná Hora is a city in Central Bohemia of Czech Republic. During 13th – 16th centuries this city competed with Prague economically, culturally and politically. Many kings chose this city as their residence. Much of its wealth is contributed due to large amounts of silver found here. In fact during its greatest years one third of all silver in Europe came from Kutna Hora. This allowed the city to prosper and build several beautiful buildings. Unfortunately in 1541 the riches mine was flooded and in combination with wars (Thirty Years’ War in particular), plagues and fires the city became impoverished. The mines were completely abandoned and silver production stopped at the end of the 18th century.
Historic Center of Old Town of Kutna Hora
Kutna Hora is an old Medieval town located on a strategic hill 70 km (45 miles) from the Czech capital of Prague. It was found a small settlement on a site of a rich silver deposit. Today is a modest sized town with 20,000 inhabitants. Its historic town is an architectural gem that was added to a UNESCO World Heritage Site list.
Saint Barbara Church (Kutná Hora)
The Cathedral is open daily, except Sunday:
April - October 9 am - 12am ; 1 pm - 5 pm
Admission 30,- CZK
Student 15,- CZK
Saint Barbara Church (Kostel Sv. Barbory) is the main cathedral of Kutna Hora. It is a magnificent Roman Catholic Church that was included in the list of World Cultural Heritage List by UNESCO.
Cathedral of Saint Barbara was construction began in 1368 and dedicated to a Saint Barbara, the patron saint of miners. Silver mines were the main source of work and revenue in Kutna Hora at the time and thousands of miners and their family members came here to pray for their well being. Mines after all were always dangerous to workers who were employed here.
Original design and layout of the Church of Saint Barbara was drawn out by an architect Johann Parler, son of Peter Parler who also participated in the construction of St. Vitus Cathedral, Charles Bridge in Prague. Later construction of Saint Barbara Church was carried out under the supervision of architects of Mateja Rejsek and Benedict Reita. They scaled down on original design of the church and made it about half of the original size. Silver deposits began to dry out and city size began to dwindle, thus cutting the funds allocated for the main cathedral of the town. As many churches in urope it took several stages over a course of several centuries to complete. And hence Saint Barbara Church was finally completed in 1905.
Sedlec Ossuary (Kostnice Sedlec) (Kutná Hora)
Location: Kutna Hora
Open: daily
Apr- Sept: 8am- 6pm
Oct, March: 9am- 5pm
Nov- Feb: 9am- 4pm
Sundays: 9am- 6pm
Closed: December 24
Entrance Fee: 90 CZK
Reduced 60 CZK
Official site
Sedlec Ossuary of Kutna Hora is an impressive and grim monument to death and eternity. This small chapel is famous with its unorthodox decorations that are made from real human bones. The history of this unusual and fascinating place began in 1142 when the Cistercian order was established in Kutna Hora. Sedlec Ossuary is a small chapel that was later added to the monastery complex. The monastery began to grow incredibly fast in 1278 after Monastery Abbot Jindrich returned from the Holy Land (modern day Israel) with a handful of soil from mount Golgotha in Jerusalem.
Soil from the Holy Land was spread on the cemetery surrounding the Sedlec Ossuary. Popularity of Sedlec Ossuary and adjacent cemetery rose up among residents of Kutna Hora significantly. Everyone tried to pick ups soil from the site and hopefully even find a place for their burial after their deaths. Particularly large influx of pilgrims began in 1318 at the peak of the epidemic of plague. Historical records show that about 30,000 people came here in hopes of good health and salvation.
Now this number of people might be a problem for modern people, but abbots who lived at the time came up with an interesting solution to this particular problem. They allowed pilgrims to buy land on a cemetery of Sedlec Ossuary. Once they couldn't burry anyone due to shortage of land, church priests simply decided to store bones of the old diseased in the basement of the chapel, thus giving new deceased some time on the cemetery. It worked so great that for the next hundreds of years several generations of Kutna Hora residents were buried and reburied several times.
Eventually the monastery around Sedlec Ossuary was closed in 1784 and the emperor ordered removal of old human bones from the basement. Given that it was the 18th century and tastes were exquisite he decided to turn human bones into something useful. He hird artists to rebuild Sedlec Ossuary into more Gothic architectural style and he picked master woodcarver Frantisek Rint to do the job. Rint managed to create strange and somewhat creepy interior made of skulls, pyramids of thigh bones, ribs and other bones into vases, coat of arms and parts of decor. According to some calculations he used remains of over 50,000 people.
Jesuit College (Kutná Hora)
Street Barborska 51
Jesuit College was constructed in Kutna Hora in the 17th century by the famous architect of the period Domenico Orsi. He designed this magnificent building in the Baroque architectural appearance. The building of Jesuit College is located in the historic center of the city near Saint Barbara Cathedral. Its facade is covered by thirteen busts of great Roman Catholic saints.
The history of the Jesuit College began on 8th May, 1667, when first stone was laid down. It was completed in 1750. The building's facade is decorated with Baroque stucco, pilaster, prism tower and other architectural features. In 1773 former Jesuit College was nationalized and transferred to the military. Only in 1998 building was turned into the Czech Museum of Fine Arts by the orders of the Czech government. Its collections houses paintings from the 20th and 21st centuries. After 2004 reconstruction of Jesuit College got several rooms dedicated to the history of the building.
Marian Column (Morový sloup) (Kutná Hora)
Street Shultisov
Marian Column or Plague Column is a beautiful tower made in a Baroque architectural style that reaches a height of 16 meters. Marian Column was designed by a famous sculptor Frantisek Baugut. It was constructed as a religious monument in hopes God will save residents of Kutna Hora and all of Moravia from Bubonic plague that swept through the region at the time. It is also the reason why the column is commonly known as the Plague Column. By 1715 when Marian Column was built this deadly disease killed more than 6000 people. Residents of Kutna Hora embossed number 6146 in memory of those who perished.
Church of St. Jacob (Kostel sv. Jakuba) (Kutná Hora)
Location: Barborska 51
Tel. +420 (775) 363- 938
Cathedral of Saint Jacob or Saint Jakuba is one of the largest and certainly one of the most beautiful Christian (Roman Catholic) churches in Kutna Hora. Design of Saint Jacob Church was drawn own by architects, stonemasons and civil engineers invited from Prague The work lasted for almost hundred years, from 1330 to 1420. According to the original plans, Cathedral of Saint Jacob was supposed to have two main towers. It didn't work out due to the sloping slope of the hill where the cathedral stands. Nevertheless, the only tower of the Saint Jacob church reached a height of 86 meters. Shortly after the construction, Cathedral of Saint Jacob was badly damaged by a fire that was started by the followers of the Hussite movement. After the building was restored it began to house an official seat of the local bishop. The interior of the building has decor from different time periods and different architectural styles including Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods.
Church of St. John Nepomuk (Kostel sv. Jana Nepomuckého) (Kutná Hora)
Italian Court (Vlašský dvůr) (Kutná Hora)