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DEATH Travel Guide: Czech Republic 

Many guidebooks distinctly lack pages dedicated to death. If you鈥檙e into immersing yourself in other cultures, one of the best ways to do it is to start with death. What a country does with its dead, as well as how much death it has seen, affects that country鈥檚 own personal identity. Don鈥檛 see your holiday as simply ticking off a few cultural boxes – take a look at the more morbid side and, in the process, get a different feel for the place. Start planning your next trip with death in mind. 

Czech Republic

You鈥檝e arrived in the jewel of Central Europe, the rebel of the former Soviet bloc. This part of the world has seen the Thirty Years鈥� War, the Seven Years鈥� War and, to varying degrees, all other Major Wars. Not to mention cholera, various occupations and plenty of eccentric death-related artistry. Perfect. Say goodbye to the tourist traps and candlelit dinners, here鈥檚 your alternative guide to the Czech Republic.

What you will need to bring:

A rucksack
SPF 30
Comfortable shoes
Healthy interest in death
Disdain for the beaten track

Start at Kutna Hora and visit the Sedlec Ossuary

After a mere 1 hour journey from Prague you鈥檒l come across Sedlec Ossuary. Affectionately known as the 鈥楤one Church鈥�, is a church decorated with 40,000 human skeletons. That鈥檚 right, 40,000. Plenty of selfie opportunities here, then.  

Back in the 13th century, the church became prime final-resting-place property after one of its abbots brought back a jar filled with soil from the Holy Land and sprinkled it about the cemetery. Soon, many locals were vying for a spot there.

In the 18th century, a dynamic duo comprising of a Czech priest and a local gravedigger collected and cleaned the remaining bones over a period of 18 years. Now, thanks to the artistic vision of the inventive pair, this church is a wonder. The bones are neatly and artistically arranged on a grand scale, and even an unapologetically kitsch chandelier entirely made from human bones hangs as a kind of centrepiece.

Next stop: Brno

A quick cross-country jaunt from Kutna Huna and you鈥檒l end up in Czech Republic鈥檚 second city, Brno.

The at the Capuchin Church in Brno is home to dozens of mummified monks and, it seems, the body of a paralytic woman unintentionally buried alive. Though, the crypt鈥檚 also housed in an early Baroque building with a great ceiling fresco.

So, if you鈥檝e got any reservations about the place being too niche, there鈥檚 always the comfortable sphere of Western art history to fall back on. Rather than the mummified monks, stick that ceiling on Instagram instead.

The monks here were thrifty and environmentally conscious: they would reuse the same, single coffin each time a monk died. After the funeral ritual, a monk would be taken back out of the token coffin and buried in the crypt under a load of bricks. The dry air and soil eventually just preserved them. Now, you can still see the remains as the monks鈥� frugal method unintentionally mummified their dead.

As you leave, you鈥檒l come across the following warning, inscribed above the door in the crypt: 鈥淎s you are now, we once were; as we are now, you shall be.鈥� You don鈥檛 get that kind of material in Lonely Planet.

Meln铆k, Chapel of Bones

If you simply cannot go without more vulgar arrangements of human bones, then you鈥檙e going to love – just North West of Kutna Hora, in Meln铆k. Central Europe has always been susceptible to a plague or two, as well as the occasional oddball academic, and the Chapel of Bones is a great example of this tradition.

Due to an historical plague, the surrounding area of Meln铆k became overrun with bones and it was deemed sensible to start filling the church with the older bones once burial space became scarce.

A Czech anthropologist, Jindrich Matiegka, relished the opportunity to seemingly arrange over 15,000 bones into piles, recording vital information in the process. The largest pile is over 6 feet tall. If you鈥檙e thinking this sounds like an unsatisfactory display in comparison to the artistry of the Sedlec Ossuary, then you鈥檒l be heartened to hear that this obsessive scholar has added a few original touches to his piles. 

Spelling out the Latin inscription, 鈥楨cce mors鈥� (鈥楤ehold death鈥�) in bones, Matiegka leaves you with a final meaningful thought. A pile of bones is always more than just a pile of bones.

Ol拧any Cemetery, the largest cemetery in Prague

From Meln铆k you can easily scoot down to Prague. For all you revolutionary spirits out there, in the Ol拧any Cemetery you鈥檒l find Jan Palach鈥檚 grave. As a student in 1969, in the city as a protest against the communist invasion and to spur others into resisting the occupation.

You can find Palach鈥檚 death mask at

Last stop: Memorial to the victims of Communism

This series of statues stands in front of the entrance to Pet艡铆n Park on 脷jezd Street, and remembers those who died under the regime. If you stay long enough in Prague, you鈥檒l start finding faint traces of the Communist past. While the Czech Republic used to be home to the largest statue of Stalin until it was taken down in the early 鈥�60s, the city鈥檚 fraught past with Soviet occupation can still be discovered.

Your death-related tour of the Czech Republic ends here. It鈥檚 time to finally cave in to that photo on the Charles Bridge and an overpriced, candle-lit dinner.

Remember, exploring the different ways a city or country approaches death – from endless ossuaries to revolutionary memorials – will always lead you in fascinating directions.