Kutna Hora

The alarm rang at 6:00 am ! We were taking a day-trip to Sedlac and Kutna Hora, and had an 8:06 train to catch ! To get to the train station we would take the tram (another new experience). Fortunately there were a few people (including children) who were able to point us in the right direction. Kutna Hora is 40 miles from Prague, and round trip tickets for both of us came to
$15. The train was so smooth and comfortable, and took us past charming villages and beautiful countryside filled with mustard and alfalfa fields. I haven't been on a train since we lived in New Jersey 20 years ago !

Five minutes from our destination - the primary Kutna Hora train station - our train came to a complete stop. We sat there for 20 minutes. Several announcements were made, but not in English. We never did find out why we were delayed. At the primary station, we had to transfer to a local train which took us to the Kutna Hora Mesto, 15 minutes from the primary station. Our local train was much older, a relic from the Soviet days.

Today Kutna Hora / Sedlac is one of the most popular destinations in the Czech republic because of its amazing collection of historic buildings, including the ghoulish Sedlec Ossuary, the Gothic masterpiece of St Barbara’s Church and the splendor of the Italian Court. This rich heritage was born in the boom days when Kutna Hora competed with Prague economically and culturally, becoming the favorite residence of several Bohemian kings. How did it get so rich? They made money by making money… literally: they mined the silver that produced the ‘Prague Groschen’ – the hard currency of Central Europe at that time.

Kutna Hora has a handful of tourist attractions and a sleepy, provincial atmosphere. Beneath the town are miles of exhausted silver and gold mines. From 1308, Bohemia’s royal mint at Kutna Hora converted its silver into coins that were used all over Central Europe, but when the mines ran dry the town dwindled. Kutna Hora’s ‘old town’ is so small it can be explored in a couple of hours, and the town is totally walkable. Most of the main attractions sit between the main square Palackého Náměstí and the Cathedral of St. Barbara, ten minutes to the southeast.

Crazy Monks - The Bone Church - Chapel of All Saints

The proper name of the ‘bone church’ is the Chapel of All Saints (kaple všech svatých). When a handful of earth from the holy-land was sprinkled over the surrounding graveyard, the chapel shot to stardom as the hippest resting place for the rich and famous. As war and plague came and went the new burials outgrew the space available, and the older bones were removed and stored in the crypt of the chapel.

The macabre sight of Kutna Hora’s bone chapel draws visitors from all over the world. Just one hour outside of Prague lies this gem of Bohemian history, home to much more than piles of skulls and bones. It was the economic power-house of the Kingdom of Bohemia and played a crucial role in the 15th century Hussite Wars.

Urban myth says that a monk went mad and made sculptures from the bones, but the present appearance is the work of a woodcarver who was commissioned in 1870 to decorate the chapel. His fantastic creations include a coat of arms of the local aristocratic Schwarzenberg family and a chandelier that contains every bone in the human body. We understand there are a few other bone churches scattered around Central Europe, but none are nearly as fascinating or photogenic.


Cathedral of The Assumption of Our Lady of Sedlec

The beautiful Cathedral of Our Lady of The Assumption in Sedlec is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The cathedral is the oldest cathedral building in central Europe. It is part of the former Cistercian monastery that was established by King Wenceslas II in the early 1300s. This was during the time of Kutná Hora's great wealth derived from silver mining. The monastery gained extraordinary profits as the mines were mostly located on their lands. The cathedral was built in the High Gothic style and was the most magnificent church in the Kingdom of Bohemia. The monastery along with the church were burned down by the Hussites in 1421 and were not renovated until the early 18th century.

At the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries the monastery was rebuilt in the unique Baroque Gothic style whose equivalent cannot be found anywhere else in Europe. The seamless combination of Gothic and Baroque is most prominent in the cathedral.

The Cistercian monastery, by then deeply in debt, was closed down in 1783 as part of the religious reform of emperor Joseph II. A tobacco factory was established there in 1812 and is still run today by Philip Morris.

When we entered the cathedral, the friendly attendant told us to be sure and climb the spiral staircase adjacent to the altar. The staircase led us to the attic, which we traversed all the way to the back of the cathedral, and into the choir loft. The narrow attic walkway was at roof level, overtop of the rotundas (which were clearly visible).

All of the rafters were completely renovated and built without the use of metal nails, as it had been originally constructed. The choir loft is the brightest spot of the church, with a view of the 106 windows, an interior length of 260 feet, and a height of 87 feet.






Cathedral of St. Barbara

The Czech Republic is a land of, among other things, spectacular gothic cathedrals (medieval skyscrapers as Tom calls them), and the one in Kutna Hora is the most spectacular of them all. With its three tent-like spires soaring skywards from the highest cliff above the River Vrchlice, it’s visible for miles around and leaves very, very few visitors unimpressed. Dedicated to St. Barbara, patron saint of miners, the cathedral is an integral part of Kutna Hora’s history and the main monument that helped Kutna Hora onto the UNESCO world heritage list.

The construction took over 500 years, beginning in 1388 and ending in 1905 with a Neo-Gothic restoration. Building was interrupted several times, either due to the Hussite wars or for lack of financial resources. Several prominent architects took part in the project over the centuries: Jan Parléř (son of Petr Parléř, architect of Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral), Matyáš Rejsek (designer of Prague's Powder Tower), Benedikt Rejt (author of the Wladislaw Hall at the Prague Castle), and Josef Mocker (restorer of many Czech castles including Karlštejn). St. Barbara's Church was originally planned to be twice its today's size. Its unique design with a three-tent roof and intricate flying buttresses make it an unmistakable Kutna Hora landmark and the town's most significant monument.

The UNESCO-listed Cathedral of St. Barbara (also called St. Barbara's Cathedral) is a monumental Gothic church consecrated to St. Barbara, patron saint of miners. The statue of the miner dates back to the year 1700. The miner is wearing a special costume, holding a lamp in his left hand, while one sees in his right hand a working tool. He has a leather apron around his waist which is used for sliding down to the mine. Miners worked six days a week and 10-14 hours per day. At the beginning of the 16th century, mines in Kutna Hora were as deep as 1500 feet which was a world record for that time.

We were told that the most amazing scenes of the Cathedral of Saint Barbara are hidden before visitor´s eyes. Some of the strangest objects were placed highly on the top of the church. Using binoculars visitors may admire fantastic objects such as bats, demons, frogs, or even winged rams. Some have found a monkey with an orange on one of the south pillars - it is the first depiction of this fruit in Bohemia.

Lazy Monks

Kutna Hora's wealth and renown were built on mining. Legend has it that when a lazy monk named Anton woke up from a nap in the monastery orchard, he discovered three pieces of silver protruding from the ground near his face, and laid down his robe ('Kutna', in Czech) to mark the place. When the monks investigated further they found that the three pieces of silver were the tip of the iceberg ande Kutna Hora's days as the richest silver mine in the Kingdom of Bohemia began.

As the Bohemians’ greatest source of wealth, Kutna Hora received plenty of attention. Palaces were built, the city was fortified, the royal mint was relocated here and Kings Vaclav IV and Vladislav Jagellonsky are among those who preferred Kutna Hora to Prague.

The Italian Court is where silver coins were produced in the Middle Ages, during the time of Kutná Hora's wealth and glory. It is named after Florentine bankers who were summoned by King Wenceslas II to implement his monetary reform in the year 1300. As part of the reform, mints that had been scattered around the kingdom were closed and a central mint was established in Kutna Hora's Italian Court. Silver Prague groschen coins replaced the thin, inferior silver coins that had been used until then, and became one of Europe's strongest currencies of the time.

In early 15th century, the Italian Court became a favorite residence of King Wenceslas IV and important royal matters were taken care of there. The Decree of Kutna Hora was issued there in 1409 and the royal election of 1471 also took place there. The newly elected king, Wladyslaw Jagiello, made the court his part-time residence as well. The complex is now used as a museum and City Hall and is one of Kutna Hora's most visited tourist sites.

Alchemists’ Museum

The bone chapel, cathedral, and mine tour are the highlights of Kutná Hora, but the lovely back streets and lanes took us to Kunta Hora's Museum of Alchemy.

The history of alchemy in the Czech Republic is extremely rich and has its roots in the Middle Ages, the times when Emperor Rudolf II was the ruler of Bohemia. Rudolf II was a big fan of alchemy and had several dozen alchemists in his court. During those times alchemy was very popular with curious ladies and distinguished gentlemen, so alchemists were patronized not only by the emperor but by the wealthy individuals all over Bohemia.

In the depths of the gothic basement there is a furnace - the necessary attribute of such laboratories. Numerous glass flasks, beakers and vials represent the alchemists' working area. The walls have symbolic drawings of Mars, the Sun, Jupiter and the Moon, fish, birds, etc. with inscriptions in Latin. Poster boards and life-size dioramas explain alchemy in action. Apart from the fact that alchemists worked on turning silver, mined in Kutna Hora, into gold, they experimented with concocting ‘life elixir’ and creating a Homunculus.

Most of the alchemists' instruments are replicas made following the original sketches that survived. The atmosphere of the museum retains an occult atmosphere – it seems that at any moment a bunch of alchemists will walk through the door and get busy with magic formulas. The highlights of the place are a giant kaleidoscope and the mythical Golem.


Heading Back to Prague

By the time we got back to our apartment in Prague, we congratulated ourselves - we have learned to negotiate the bus, tram, subway, and train systems - despite a hard-to-understand or comprehend Czech language barrier !