Ossuary Kutná Hora - Sedlec
The Cemetery Church of All Saints with the Ossuary. This gothic charnel-house was built in the late 14th century. This highly regarded and important monument is an example of the High Gothic style of architecture, and includes an upper chapel and an underground Ossuary.

The kostnice (ossuary) is an underground chapel of All Saints Cemetery and originally was a part of the Cistercian abbey in Sedlec, which was founded in 1142 by Miroslav of Markvartic. The church was built in the 14th century as a carnery. It consists of two chapels being built one on top of the other and according to the most recent surveys, this was built alongside other outside buildings that made up the entire abbey, as they tried to draw closer to its Jerusalem inspired design.

The Cemetery Church was a part of the oldest Cistercian monastery in Bohemia founded in 1142. A unique Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist nearby (a UNESCO-listed sight since 1995) and a former baroque convent (a seat of a tobacco factory since 1812) were also preserved.

At the end of the 15 century the cemetery – area of 35 000 m2 – was partially reduced and bones from abolished graves were moved into the Ossuary. The bones were already decoratively arranged in the 16th century, according to the chronicler Š. E. Kapihorský (+1630). Between 1661-1663 the church finally received repairs including rearranging of the bones and an original Gothic star-shaped vault from the upper chapel was replaced.

The major reconstruction of the monastery began in 1661-1663 the Baroque period in the early 18th century. The reconstruction was entrusted to Jan Blažej Santini – Aichel, who rebuilt the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Church of All Saints with the Ossuary in Baroque Gothic style.

Santini is also considered to be the architect of the basic concepts of skeletal decorations according to the Baroque piety and principles of the Baroque aesthetics. There are liturgical symbols of cups and monstrances in the niches, garlands of bones, Baroque angelic heads and the pinnacles-shaped candleholders from 1742 symbolize the eternal light.