Kutná Hora – Take me Down to the Ossuary City

July 10, 2023 by admin

Known for the sublime (if not a little morbid) Sedlec Ossuary, Kutná Hora is more than a pile of bones – it was one of ancient Bohemia’s great urban center. A silver mining town, Kutná Hora was often lusted after by conquerors and kings, today displaying that heritage proudly for all to see. Come see the town silver built!

Geography and Transportation
A Brief History
What to do in Kutná Hora
Conclusion

Geography and Transportation

Roughly fifty kilometers west of Prague, Kutná Hora lies both on a flat lowland on the Vrchlice stream at the Upper Sázava Hills where the Old Town is located. Located only an hour from Prague by train, it is a popular stop for travellers.

For those of you unaware, the ossuary, main train station and old town are quite distant from each other. While the ossuary and the long winded Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist are within walking distance from the mainline station, the Old Town is located at least a forty five minute walk from the main line.

A transfer to the downtown can be purchased from the mainline. Alternatively, trains coming from Brno in the south may have a direct option into town. Anyhow just be aware that attraction are at a distance from each other.

The industrial area around the station are also home to some old communist blocks, now painted to make them a little more cozy and palatable.

A Brief History

At one point Bohemia’s second city, Kutná Hora has seen better days. Although the city has lost its luster in some ways, it still has a long history full of stunning heritage buildings, to make up for its modern shortcomings.

Iron Age, Bronze Age and Antiquity

Once a Celtic settlement with evidence pointing to the presence of underground mining.

Medieval Ages

Although silver coins were found in the area during the 10th century, the city would be not founded until 1142. Here was a small settlement at Sedlec Abbey, the first Cistercian monastery in Bohemia but it would not take off until 1260, with the arrival of Germans miners in search for silver.

The town grew so powerful from the silver trade that it soon became the chief rival of Prague within Bohemia (13th – 16th century). The Germans called this settlement Kuttenberg or Kutná Hora in Czech.

The town was sacked after a long and bloody siege by Sigismund of Luxembourg (HRE) in 1402, after witch the town’s residents were forced to march to nearby Kolin to bend the knee in subjugation. A favorite of Bohemia kings (many whom held residence in the town), it was taken by the Jan Hus inspired Taborites during the the Hussite War. After the Battle of Kutná Hora in 1421, the city was taken by the rebel commander Jan Žižka but not before being burned by imperial troops to stop it from being of any use for the rebel army.

Habsburg Rule

The Kingdom of Bohemia passed to the Habsburg Empire, later the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1526. This period would mark the steady decline of the city as a place of importance. In 1546, the most important mine was flooded and the situation was not remediated, in fact the towns woes had just begun and all attempts to re-establish the mines failed.

Bohemia rose against Emperor Ferdinand I, and the town lost all of its previously granted privileges for its part in the revolt. During the subsequent years both the Thirty Years’ War and the bouts of the plague ruined the town culminating with a disastrous fire in 1770. The town would be privy to a brief visit by a Prussian force under Frederick the Great during the First Silesian War.

This era was marked by urban decay, where the city struggled to maintain its monuments.

Modern Ea

After the First World War the city was incorporated in the new nation of Czechoslovakia and occupied by Nazi Germany under a Second World War puppet state, sliding into a Soviet Puppet State during the Cold War. The town was heavily industrialized over the course of the 20th century, growing new suburban areas.

What to do in Kutná Hora

What you will be seeing in Kutná Hora is an authentic medieval center from the height of Bohemia’s power. Don’t be fooled there is enough to do here to last you at least a full day! Do not try and fit it all in a half day.

Visit the UNESCO Rated Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist

A visit to Kutná Hora would usually begin at the Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist, the shortest attraction from the mainline train station and the closest monument to Sedlec Ossuary. In fact both the Cathedral, Church of St. Barbara and the Ossuary are co-listed as UNESCO sites.

Although the gothic building may not look like anything special on the outside, after all it is a typical gothic buildings, the holy structure really shines on the inside.

NOTE: A ticket to the Ossuary will also get you your entrance to the church, they can be purchased at the infocenter across the street from the cathedral, at this address (Zámecká 279, 284 03 Kutná Hora, Czechia)

The building owes its importance to its Gothic architecture, as plain as it may seem today the church was actually the first High-Gothic building in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Constructed around 1300, in the time of the last Přemyslid kings (the last native Czech dynasty of Bohemia) it holds an important place in the hearts of the Czech nation. It was built over an older structure that was a part of the Cistercians Sedlec Abbey, the oldest Cistercian abbey in the Czech lands (dating from 1142).

In contrast with the glum exterior, entering the interior is a divine experience. The high ceiling building is filled with light and a distinctive yellow color making it seem ethereal.

The church is also unique for something else! It is built in the unique Baroque Gothic style, as pioneered by the Czech Baroque architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel. This fusion happened after the the abbey was burnt down by the Hussites in 1421, while the church became a ruin for the next two centuries thus required a remodel.

Near the front of the church you will find the relics of Saint Vincent while on the side you will be able to climb a beautiful Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel designed spiral staircase to get a birds eyed view of the building.

Not only is the church home to a few preserved historic artifacts, but by taking previously mentioned the stairs up you can view the inside of the roof structure via a catwalk.

Get Spooked at the Sedlec Ossuary

Following Zámecká street up towards the ossuary from the Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist you will come across a ruined ruined religious complex.

It is here that you will find Valoun, a place of memory just outside of the ossuary. Upon entering the chapel courtyard you will be surrounded with the graves of many dead.

In 1278 King Otakar II of Bohemia sent Henry, the abbot of the Cistercian abbey in Sedlec, to the Holy Land where he grabbed soil from Golgotha (spot outside of Jerusalem where Jesus may have been crucified). After he returned from the holy land he spread the soil over the Sedlec grounds. This made it a popular place of burial!

The 14th and 15th centuries were difficult for the city, as previously state. The Hussite wars and Black death swelled the chapel graveyard like never before.

It was in 1400 that the chapel above the ossuary was constructed. In 1511, it was used to house many of those same victims once buried in the cemetery’s mass graves. The new ossuary was supervised by a half-blind monk. There are over 30 000 – 40 000 bodies housed in the osuary, many housed in honeycombed structures, that look strangely like beehives, but also in more intricate compositions. A last makeover of the ossuary came in 1870, when a local woodcarver, Frantisek Rindt rearranged the bones in artistic fashion.

Among the most impressive works are the chandelier with one of every bone and the coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family.

Walk Through the City’s Modernist and Industrial Heritage

The walk from the ossuary to the old town is once that will guide you through the more modern iterations of the city. The first of the two pictures below is a school and the second a theater.

Here you will see many buildings put up by the Soviet Era authorities and industrial remnants.

Get Cultured and Take In the Sights of the Gorgeous Old Town

One of the first sights you will encounter on your way into town is the beautiful St Mary’s Church dating from 1357.

The old town is built along the Vrchlice stream in an elongated triangular shape, narrowing at the peak of a ridgeline that extends along the stream where the church of St. Barbara is located. Like most Czech towns its civic center is built around a triangular plaza. This is where most bars and restaurants can be found.

Of course the square is built near an ornate baroque monument, the Prague column. Built by the Jesuits as a reminder of the plague (dating from 1713-1715), it is a gorgeous piece. Do look for the The Three Kings House nearby. This beautiful structure is remarkable for its fresco painted on the facade of the house, depicting three Bohemian kings; Wenceslaus II, Vladislaus II and Wenceslaus IV.

By the Three Kings house just south of the square, you will also find a statue depicting Karel Havlíček Borovsky, a Czech writer.

You will also find the Italian Court, a 1400’s Royal Palace, now a museum and what I think may be a statue of Tomáš Masaryk but i’m not sure, I could be wrong about this one.

You will also find the Church of St. James, sporting a stunning 84 meter tower completed in 1420. This is the defining structure of the skyline.

Before you proceed to the church of St. Barbara, take the time to soak in the scenery and stop of at the beautiful Gothic Stone Fountain. This is one of the most underrated old town’s in Czechia, due to it being overshadowed by the ossuary.

Catch the Best View of Kutna Hora Just South of St. James Church

Just south of the St James Church, head downward towards the edge of the ridge line.

Here you will be afforded the best views of the city, including the Church of St. Barbara and the Jesuit College along the grave vine growing ridge.

Burrow Underground at the Czech Museum of Silver

On your way up to the Church of St. Barabara, you will run into a peculiar structure – of almost palatial look. This is the Silver Mining museum, and inside of its shell lies and old silver mine shaft. The building stands at a beautiful little plaza, with views of the Church of St. James.

The museum offers two tour guided experience

Tour I – “The Town of Silver”
Tour II – “The Way of Silver”

The fist observes the history of the city as a royal mining town, and the role of Silver in shaping it and the second is more about the processes of mining and coin minting themselves. The second tour even offers a visit to a 250m section of original underground mining tunnel!

Complete Your Journey at the St Barbara’s Cathedral and the Jesuit College

From the silver mining museum you will come across the white painted College of Jesuits, stretching along the ridge.

Around the block from here, if you turn north, you will also fin remnants of the city’s old Jewish heritage in the forms of an old ruined synagogue

Straight in front of you, a type of Charles Bridge like walkway with statues lining the edge of the ridge will lead you over a street of cobblestones leading to the church of St. Barbara.

From the walkway you will get great views of the church of St. James, especially at golden hour.

One of the most famed Gothic buildings in Central Europe, it was designed by the famous Parler family of architects. The stunning stone structure began construction in 1388 but was not completed until 1905. The many stops on the structure’s construction either reduced the scope of the building or slowed it down, yet the result is still impressive. Construction depended on the hearth of the silver mines which varied in production throughout the centuries.

You will also get greet views of the church of St. Barbara as well as Jesuit College from a fortified bastion (now park) that overlooks them both. You will also be able to check out a small vineyard belonging to the college of Jesuits. At the bottom of the barbican, where the Jesuit college is located, you will find a small gift shop as well as the Corpus Christi Chapel, a cave like structure.

You will also find an old Gymnasium (School) facing the church of St. Barbara. It is a stunning old building and as such is worthy of reference.

The distinct three peaked roof of the church has a beautiful vaulted ceiling on its interior remarkable stained glass including a depiction of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I. Outside the grounds are now a park that you can walk through.

In fact you will get pretty good views of the college of Jesuits from this park!

Conclusion

Come for the Ossuary, stay for the memories… From the Silver mining heritage and stunning churches, to the morbid curiosities of visiting the remains of plague victims – Kutná Hora has something for everyone.