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Friday, 01 July 2011 00:00 |
Together with the Sedlec Ossuary near Kutná hora, the ossuary located in the town of Mělník ranks among the biggest ossuaries in the Czech Republic. It is located in a crypt under St. Peter and St. Paul’s provost’s Church presbytery. According to the construction process of the presbytery and the writings on its walls, it served its purpose until the 1530s. Since before memory the church had been surrounded by a cemetery which was not big enough to hold the remains of the many victims of plague epidemics and that is why gravediggers would take the bones and store them in the ossuary. Ossuaries or charnel-houses used to be constructed near parish churches with cemeteries. Mělník Ossuary served its purpose until 1775 when the church cemetery was eliminated.
According to a governing decree from 16 August 1878 bones stored in ossuaries were to be buried in the ground, and in Mělník Ossuary they solved this issue by walling in the windows and entrance. The cemetery was relocated to St. Ludmila’s Church in the town’s suburb.
The Ossuary holds the remains of about 10,000 to 15,000 people of different ages, sex and ethnic origin as bones found around Mělník, the remains of the Thirty Year War and other conflicts were gathered there. |
