Bones, mummies, and even a castle! Check out the amazing Czech city of Brno!
*Warning-This post contains images of skeletonized/mummified human remains.*
Why Brno? Well, obviously, because of the above warning. I do have a fascination with cemeteries after all. I also wanted to go somewhere else in Czechia than just Prague. Brno was on the way to Prague from Bratislava, so I considered stopping there. Then I found out there were catacombs. Decision made.
Brno is the former capital of Moravia, which was normally a smaller kingdom within a larger empire of some sort. It has a cathedral, a castle and catacombs, all my favorite things. The city center is remarkably preserved and adorable.
Jana Irving First stop, Náměstí Svobody (Freedom Square) and there’s Brno’s plague column.
Jana Irving I just really like this building. That Student Agency is weird. I bought some train tickets through them and I’m not even a student.
Jana Irving It’s really a nice square. A lot of Brno’s town center is mostly pedestrian only, but you will still find tram tracks and a few random taxis on the roads.
Jana Irving Svatého Tomáše (St. Thomas) and the old Governor’s Palace which now hosts the Moravian Gallery.
Brno has two sets of catacombs. Kostnice u sv. Jakuba (Ossuary at the Church of St. James) is the second largest ossuary in Europe. (The largest is the Catacombs in Paris, which is technically an ossuary.) An estimated 50,000 people are buried here. Tombs in churchyards are only temporary. After the body decomposes, the bones are removed and placed in an ossuary. This ossuary was mostly used in the 17th and 18th centuries. There might be more to the ossuary than what is currently open. Plus, the bodies were not laid out in a decorative fashion until 2012. You could probably fit a lot of bodies down there if there was no need to walk around.
Jana Irving I love a good tunnel.
Jana Irving Walls lined with bones with some weird modern art in between.
Jana Irving There is some sort of pattern going on here.
Jana Irving Interesting door. There was no explanation.
Jana Irving This is the main vault area. Imagine this almost completely full with bones.
Jana Irving These bones haven’t been rearranged. They actually tried to arrange them back in the day in some sort of fashion. A wooden partition held the bones in place.
Jana Irving I’m just as confused as you are.
Jana Irving Back above ground now. I found a pretty church, Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie (Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary).
Jana Irving Two churches literally next door to each other, the on the left is a chapel, the Loreto Chapel and the one on the right is the official church, svatých Janů (St. John).
Jana Irving The chapel had a really cool door.
Jana Irving I was able to go into the church. It was stunning.
Jana Irving Brno is quite colorful.
Jana Irving And adorable.
Jana Irving Town markets are held here in this plaza. Heading toward those steeples.
Jana Irving Detour to see the Stará radnice (Old Town Hall). You can climb the tower if you want. I didn’t want.
Jana Irving Very cute.
Jana Irving More cute.
Jana Irving Another detour to svatého Michala (St. Michael).
Jana Irving The crypt is under the church on the right.
On my way to the cathedral I stopped at the second catacomb, which is kind of weird. More like a crypt, the Kapucínská krypta (Capuchin Crypt) has some bodies of Capuchin monks in actual caskets (although some are see through). There is, however, a room with just Capuchin mummies. The monks had taken a poverty vow and they considered coffins an unnecessary luxury. Capuchin crypts get really weird. This one was fairly tame. There weren’t any mummies hanging from a wall in this one. (Check out this photo of a Capuchin crypt in Rome.)
Jana Irving Just a row of see-through coffins.
Jana Irving The dry air in the crypt naturally mummified the monks.
Jana Irving Now back above ground and I almost tripped on this really cute grate.
Jana Irving Sorry for the bad photo but there is a random samurai on a roof near the cathedral. No idea why.
Jana Irving The gorgeous Katedrála svatých Petra a Pavla (Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul). The cathedral is completely ringed by buildings. There is no good way to get a photo of this place.
Jana Irving This 13th century cathedral has been fixed up a bit.
Jana Irving The castle, my next destination.
Jana Irving Hrad Špilberk (Špilberk Castle) was first constructed in the 13th century and has served as fortress, a military prison, a Nazi barracks and now, the Brno Museum.
Jana Irving I didn’t have time to check out the museum, but luckily the open-air areas are free.
Jana Irving Tunnel to another courtyard.
Jana Irving It’s a very hodge-podgey castle.
Jana Irving The best view of the cathedral.
Jana Irving The inner part of the castle.
Jana Irving The inner courtyard inside the inner part of the castle. So many courtyards.
Brno was absolutely fantastic. I could have used another day just to check out the rest of the museums. The city was adorable. I am so glad I decided to visit.
Check out my next update where I explore Prague!
or
Start at the beginning of this adventure in Zurich!
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