We had enough time for a day trip away from Prague, and our pick was Kutna Hora. The main attraction in Kutna Hora was the famous "bone church". K did some research and decided that the best way to enjoy the day trip and know more about the history was to do it via a local tour. We had a good experience on SANDEMAN's free walking tour so we went to Kutna Hora with them (the bad exerience one was my little tour to Prague Castle with them). We took a local train to Kutna Hora.
Kutna Hora was once Europe's largest silver mine. In the past, Kutna Hora was known as the city of silver. It is about 70 km east of Prague, and the trip takes approximately an hour.
Our first stop upon reaching Kutna Hora was the "Bone Church" itself. The "Bone Church" or ossuary ('Kostnice' in Czech) is in the underground chapel of the Church of All Saints. The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people.
Urban legend has it that a monk went mad made things from the bones. Decorations and sculptures were created by a woodcarver name Frantisek Rint. He was commissioned by the landowners at that time, in 1870 to decorate the chapel with bones as a reminder human life is not immortal, and death is inescapable.
The guide then arranged for minivan services to pick us up to the next stop, St. Barbara's Cathedral (Chram Sv. Barbory). This cathedral was founded in 1388 by rich miners of Kutna Hora. So, St Barbara is the patron saint of miners, and many of the interior has mining related adornments.
Lunch was at Pivnice Dacicky but I was still coughing my lungs out and much to K's disapproval, I was popping Fisherman's Friend like tic tac, so I only had some potato soup and lemonade as drink.
We continued our walk after lunch, though I think it was a little rush, next stop - Italian Court (Vlassky Dvur). This was where Czech currency was once made and became Europe's most important mint and the main residence of Czech kings in the 1400s.
Scenery from across the Italian Mint.
Side note: Cherries are so addictive! The only consolation is they are considered a type of fruit. ^ ^
I've always wanted to visit Kutna Hora!
ReplyDeleteThat stained glass window in Saint Barbara's ... is that an Alphonse Mucha?
I have read and re-read your posts on Central Europe and wanted to do Cesky Krumlov as well as Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora won...
DeleteThat stained glass window was inspired by him (I read) but wasn't by him.