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22 May 2007
Some lucky folks get to stay marked in the cemetery of this church in Kutna Hora (a short train trip away from Prague) which is home to a really big ossuary. That is: a place where the bones of dead people are artfully arranged as decorative items. Why would anyone do such a thing? Well, the town was hit really hard by the plague, more than once. 30,000 people died in one of the outbreaks. The cemetery got over-filled. Rather than haul in more dirt or bury people farther away, they decided to try to find a creative use for the surplus of bones.
They charge an extra fee to take pictures inside the ossuary, which I didn't pay. It was appropriately horrifying.
 

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Photos by Celeste Hutchins
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