A day in Kutná Hora, part 1

Kutná Hora is a small city to the east of Prague, but of great cultural significance for the entire country. An important source of silver in the middle ages (since around the 10th century), and the site of a Cistercian monestary, the area is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After a brisk walk from the train station and through the stale snow leftover from the generally frigid January weather, we came first to the Chrám Nanebevzetí Panny Marie (Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady). It was built between 1280 and 1320 by the Cistercians, and was plundered by the Hussites (Protestant followers of Jan Hus) in 1421 and was badly burned (although it's unclear as to whether or not the Hussites were responsible for the fire, it's more than likely given their military actions in other parts of the country, particularly Prague). It was restored in the early 18th century, allegedly by Czech/Italian architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel.


The Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady
Not far from this cathedral was the Morový Sloup - the Plague Column, a memorial for the countless victims of the Bubonic Plague that decimated Europe in the 14th century.


The Plague Column
The Plague Column is appropriately situated just outside the walls of a cemetary. Within these walls amongst the headstones is a small Gothic chapel, which houses the famous ossuary (Kostnice), a intriguingly morbid display of human remains. In 1870, a woodcarver named František Rint was commissioned to create the monument from the exhumed skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people - victims both of the Plague and of the Hussite Wars. In the pictures below you can see the coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family (who employed Rint for the task) and a monstrance, among other things:


The Sedlec Ossuary
Of course seeing all those bones made me powerful hungry, so we went to the nearby pub U Zlatého Lva ("At the Golden Lion") for lunch. If you ever happen upon the Golden Lion, I highly recommend the potato soup and a pint of the local beer, called Dačický.

To be continued...