CEA excursion to Kutná Hora-CEA Spring 2013 MOJO-Jenna Kerr
Throughout the semester, CEA organizes group excursions for the students in the program. Recently, I went on one of these organized group excursions to Kutná Hora, Czech Republic. During this day trip, we went to three main sights including St. Barabara's Church, Silver Mines, and the Sedlec Monastery and Ossuary.
St. Barbara's Church is a famous Gothic church and is also a UNESCO world heritage site. Construction of the church began in 1388 and then, after many interruptions, was finally finished in 1905. The church is in a higher part of town, and when exiting the church you are able to see a great view looking down on the town of Kutná Hora.
Silver found in the mines is said to date back to the 10th century. Many of the Medieval miners were only 5 foot tall allowing them to fit in the tiny spaces within the mine. Since it was pitch dark in the mines, miners often resorted to their sense of smell and sound to distinguish silver from the stone surrounding it.
The Sedlec Ossuary contains hundreds of thousands of human bones from 40,000-70,000 skeletons of people that died from both the Plague of the 14th century and the Hussite Wars of the 15th century. Since there were no cremations at that time, the cemeteries ran out of room to place the dead, and thus they were stacked inside the ossuary with their bones used to "decorate" the church.
The following are photos that I took while on this CEA day trip to Kutná Hora:
1. St. Barbara's Church, from a front view
2. View of the town of Kutná Hora, from the exit of St. Barbara's Church
3. St. Barbara's Church from afar
4. Silver Mines Tour Building
5. Gang all dressed up in our miner outfits; white coats, hard hats, with old hydrogen oxide fueled flashlights
6. Down 50 meters into the depths of the mine
7. The Sedlec Monastery and Ossuary
8. Entrance to the Sedlec Ossuary
9. Schwarzenberg coat of arms made out of human bones
10. Near alter, candles lit in memory of those who died
Overall, Kutná Hora was a very fun day trip to attend. Not only was it a fantastic learning experience, but it was also a beautiful day outside and a great way to spend a Saturday morning and afternoon!