Brno Ossuary

The cemetery around St James's church served Brno from the thirteenth century; an ossuary in vaults beneath it was founded in the seventeenth century and expanded in the eighteenth, and after the cemetery closed in 1784 the vaults were sealed and forgotten. They were rediscovered in 2001 during survey work and opened to the public in 2012 after excavation and conservation. The remains of an estimated fifty thousand people are held there, which makes it the second largest ossuary in Europe after the Paris catacombs. The presentation is deliberate rather than decorative: the bones are stacked in ordered walls and columns in low vaulted chambers with a spare modern lighting and sound design by the architects, and there is no attempt at the arrangement-as-ornament seen at Sedlec. The people here died of plague, cholera and the ordinary causes of five centuries of a city.

What to look for

• Around fifty thousand people - the second largest ossuary in Europe.
• Stacked walls and columns - ordered rather than decorative arrangement.
• A modern presentation - spare lighting and sound in the vaulted chambers.
• Rediscovered in 2001 - sealed and forgotten since 1784.

When to go

All year. Two hours.

Before you go

These are human remains and the scale is confronting - some visitors find it too much. The chambers are low and cool. Photography is restricted. Closed on some weekdays outside summer.

Nearby

The old town and Zelny trh are a short walk; the Capuchin crypt is close.

Key facts