Friday, June 21, 2013

kutna hora(!) in the czech republic


Some centuries were better at taming Death than others:



Many tried tying a leash around Death's throat,



Others made Death the leash,



Several tried to sport a necklace of Death,



And others used Death to lash together escape routes--made rafts of it.


Kutna Hora Ossuary is a record of man attempting all of these things. These last several images are from the renovations being done on the upper level of the church.

I adored it. In the 18th century, all of the bones were removed, white-washed, and carefully returned to their places. Who does that? I imagine some poor Czech Tom Sawyer sitting in a courtyard somewhere, quietly perfecting the finish on this tragic pile of 40000 (previously) deteriorating bodies.

The world is an absurd place. Some days make that more apparent than others.

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