I couldn't decide which strange object to post about, so here's a double feature of strange places instead!
The Capuchin Monastery in Brno, Czech Republic allows visitors to see its catacombs, where the mummified bodies of monks, abbots and various people rest. I think it's safe to say that the catacomb is the most visited part of the monastery! Bodies were laid in the catacombs until 1787, when Emperor Joseph II forbade bodies to be buried in the catacomb.
The bodies in the catacomb were accidentally mummified - the ventilation holes in the tunnels keep the air constantly dry, which mummified the bodies hundreds of years ago.
Baron von Trenck is a famous figure in Brno, and so rests in a glass-topped coffin in a separate room.
I felt a little squeamish when I saw
this picture, so I've put in a link instead of posting a picture of the catacombs!
I now end off the 'strange objects/strange places' series with a place where dead people are part of the decor.
This place, also in the Czech Republic, is the
Sedlec Ossuary, Sedlec, near Kutna Hora. Bones decorate nearly every wall of the small Roman Catholic chapel, and a delicate bone chandelier hangs from the ceiling.The ossuary lies beneath the Cemetary Church of All Saints. The bones of approximately 40 000 to 70 000 people are contained in the ossuary. From what I've gathered, one man arranged the bones decorativley - his name was FrantiĊĦek Rint. The woodcarver was paid by the prominent Schwarzenberg family to arrange the bones in 1870.
I think I would visit all the weird places I've posted about. The places are definitely very creepy, yet somehow fascinating.
Photo source: http://0.tqn.com/d/goeasteurope/1/0/i/5/-/-/SedlicOssuary4.JPG. See more photos
here
