Don't think the Kutna Hora Bone Church is unique.
For some reason there are several chapels like this in the world of the Catholic Church. (We visited one in Rome in 2000, which strangely was across the street from the Hard Rock Cafe there.) This one is smaller, but you can't beat it for a sense of humor. There's a chandelier made of one of every bone from the human body, set off by garlands of skulls. Memento Mori, indeed.
No special processing here, other than to make a mask of the area on the right, which was lit by daylight through a window, and to change it's color balance to match the rest of the scene, which was lit by incandescent light. I used the Nikon D800E, with ISO 2000, f/2.8 at 1/25 second exposure. I was using the 14-24 f/2.8 lens set at 20 mm, and the short focal length allows the slow shutter speed.
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Tom,
While the picture is spectacular, it’s still a little creepy. I’ve never seen a church like this so it’s pretty new to me. But are these really that common? Just curious. Thanks for the interesting post, I really did enjoy it.
Irving, not sure how common ossuaries like this are, but the skeleton iconography in the Catholic church is everywhere.
Thanks Tom for the info, it’s still a little strange though. But hey, who am I to judge? (LOL). Thank you for your response!
Spooky! Exactly what message do you reckon they were attempting to convey???
There are lots of bone sculptures and paintings, etc. in Catholic iconography. They are called, generally, “memento mori” or “reminder of death.” I think the general message is that death is inevitable, and you’d better be ready. Think of all the medieval and Renaissance paintings that contain skulls. The Mexican “Day of the Dead” and the proliferation of Catrinas come from that tradition, too.