Not for the faint of heart — the world’s largest ossuary church built from 40,000 skeletons

Later, after the outbreaks of the Black Death and wars in the 14th century, countless skeletons were buried in the cemetery and gradually piled up around the church. A hermit eventually began moving the bones from outside the church into the interior and arranging them in a simple fashion.

The church was later destroyed by fire, but in 1703, architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel rebuilt it and elevated the art of bone decoration. He used the bones to create various ornaments such as spires, crowns, and chandeliers, resulting in the Bone Church we see today.

The interior of the Bone Church is actually quite compact — it takes only about two minutes to walk through if you’re just taking a quick look. But if you take your time, you’ll notice many clever design touches. In addition to the four massive bone cairns, there are bone chandeliers, bone candlesticks, large-scale historical bone art pieces, and religious icons. Brave visitors can take the time to contemplate the different meanings of “death” and “life.”

▲ From candlesticks to ceilings, the entire church is decorated with human bones.
While some visitors may find the Bone Church a bit too “mature” for comfort — and Taiwanese tourists, with their cultural emphasis on ancestral reverence, might feel slightly uneasy — the creator’s philosophy was that “before God, all people are equal, and in death, we are all just bones.” Approaching the bone art from an artistic perspective can offer a very different experience.