The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-09
OF HUMAN BONES.
A Remarkable Chandelier and It's
Strange History.
From the St. Louis Post Dispatch.


From the st. Louis Post Dispatch
The first monastery OF the Cistercian
Order in Bohemia is that Of Sedlec. which
was founded by Miroslaw in ll42 1t was
celebrated throughout the world The
discovery of silver mines by the monks Of
the order led to the founding of Kutten-
berg, the famous mining city and years
of prosperity for the holy friaFs followed
The little church which had first been
erected was soon replaced with an inn
mense structure, the Church of St. Mary.
Not far from ii stood a church which was
visited by the general public and which
became famous place of pilgrimage. It's
attractiveneSS as such was much enhanced
by the fact that one of the abbots of the
order had earth brought from Mount Col
gotha, with which he besprinkled the
burial ground which adioined the church.
At the time All Saints chapel was built
the belief had spread among the piOus
people of that section that the bodies Of
the Just who were buried in this doubiy
consecrated ground, that would not toll
crate the presence of sinners, We're
stripped of their flesh within twenty-four
hours after burial 50 that nothing re-
manned but the blanched bones. Every
body strove to be buried in this sacred
earth, and bountiful donations were
shOwered upon the chapel.
Through the religious wars of the six
teenth century and the miSmanagement
of dishonest abbots, the convent lost many
of it's treasures. One of the abbots at
last defaulted and escaped to France with
all the ready money in the treasury No
other abbot was chosen after that time,
and the convent was presided over by
provost. In 1873 convention was call ed
of all the Cistercian abbotS in Bohemia
ana Moravia. and the Convent of Sedlec
was abolished on account Of its unfOrtu-
nate financial condition The Church of
St. Mary was closed. and its magnificent
works of art were sold for a song
In 1854 the editice. the largest Of its
kind in Bohemia, was restored. On the
site of the cemetery made holy by the earth
which has been brought from Golgotha,
in which Thousands upon thousands had
been buried an abbot named Heidenreich
erected in 1890 double chapel the sub
structure of which was called All Souls
church, and the upper one All Saints
church. Partly destroyed during the
HUSTLE wars, these chapels were re
stored in 1851 The substructure below
the level of the burial ground is undoubt
edly the most remarkable memento
mort in the world. The walls
rest on four pillars and have an
arched roof. The entire decoration con-
sists Of the blanched bones of human
bodies. Garlands strung together Of
bones depend upon the walls and ceiling.
Pyramids, topped with golden crowns, are
artistically reared from the ground with
these whitened remains OF the dead
The affairs are literally covered with
skulls, among which the eye is particu-
larly attracted to hundreds of those
which have been pierced By bullets or
crushed by murderOus blows anG other
weapons, denoting that they have evi-
IDENTITY been gathered from the ada
cent battlefelds. In the center
of the arched roof hangs ID
chandelier constructed of shoulder blades
jawbones and spinal cords. This grew
some space was given its present artistic
arrangement is 1870. A t that time the
chapel with its wealth of human bones,
which folklore says was originally gath
cred by the blind friar of the order OF the
Cistercians, was approaching decay. when
a pious man named Rint devoted himself
to tine task of cleaning all the bones and
arranging them as they had been by his
blind predecessor. Prince Carl of Schwarz
enburg ordered the church TO be repaired,
and paid for it out of his personal funds