Sights in Kutná Hora
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Sedlec Ossuary
The remarkable ‘bone church’ of the Sedlec Ossuary is an 800m walk south from Kutná Hora’s main train station. When the Schwarzenberg family purchased Sedlec monastery in 1870 they allowed a local woodcarver to get creative with the bones that had been piled in the crypt for centuries. But this was no piddling little heap of bones: it was the remains of no fewer than 40, 000 people. The result was spectacular – garlands of skulls and femurs are strung from the vaulted ceiling like Addams Family Christmas decorations, while in the centre dangles a vast chandelier containing at least one of each bone in the human body. Four giant pyramids of stacked bones squat in each …
reviewed
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B
Cathedral of St Barbara
Kutná Hora’s greatest monument is the Gothic Cathedral of St Barbara. Rivalling Prague’s St Vitus in size and magnificence, its soaring nave culminates in elegant, six-petalled ribbed vaulting. Work was started in 1380, interrupted during the Hussite Wars and abandoned in 1558 when the silver began to run out. It was finally completed in neogothic style at the end of the 19th century. The ambulatory chapels preserve some original 15th-century frescoes, some of them showing miners at work. Take a walk around the outside of the church, too; the terrace at the east end enjoys the finest view in town.
reviewed
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C
Italian Court
Just east of St James Church (kostel sv Jakuba; 1330) lies the Italian Court, the former Royal Mint – it got its name from the master craftsmen from Florence brought in by Wenceslas II to kick-start the business, and who began stamping silver coins here in 1300. The oldest remaining part, the niches in the courtyard (now bricked up), were minters’ workshops. The original treasury rooms hold an exhibit on coins and minting. The guided tour (with English text) is worth taking for a look at the few historical rooms open to the public, notably a 15th-century Audience Hall with two impressive 19th-century murals depicting the election of Vladislav Jagiello as king of Bohem…
reviewed
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D
Czech Silver Museum
From the southern side of St James Church, a narrow cobbled lane (Ruthardská) leads down and then up to the Hrádek (Little Castle). Originally part of the town’s fortifications, it was rebuilt in the 15th century as the residence of Jan Smíšek, administrator of the royal mines, who grew rich from silver he illegally mined right under the building. It now houses the Czech Silver Museum. The exhibits celebrate the mines that made Kutná Hora wealthy, including a huge wooden device once used to lift loads weighing as much as 1000kg from the 200m-deep shafts. You can even don a miner’s helmet and lamp and join a 45-minute guided tour (adult/child 110/70Kč) through 500m o…
reviewed
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E
Alchemy Museum
Kutná Hora's Alchemy Museum comes complete with basement laboratory, Gothic chapel and mad-scientist curator.
reviewed
