The Ossuary of Brno is a fascinating part of the Brno underground structures, being the second largest ossuary in Europe by the number of discovered remains.
Brno is a touristic destination for several reasons – its architecture, cultural scene, center full of cozy cafés…only in recent years has the public been discovering its underground which is absolutely fascinating. The topic of this article is the St. James’ Ossuary that tells the story of a rather grim face of the city.
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How to get there
The entrance to the ossuary is easy to find, it’s in the very center at the St. James’ Church (kostel sv. Jakuba) on James square (Jakubské náměstí). The entrance is next to the wall with the five saints:
Get the tickets
You can get the tickets right there or buy them in advance here. You can also get one ticket for several parts of the city underground which is cheaper than buying the ticket for each part separately.
Brief History of the Ossuary
Before there was an ossuary, there was – not surprisingly – a cemetery. The cemetery established at the beginning of the 13th century around St. James’ Church was chosen to be the final resting place of foreign settlers until the end of the 13th century, later of anyone who locally belonged to the St. James’ parish. Soon, the space became insufficient despite the fact that it was being constantly extended at the expense of the houses. A system was established in which bodies were taken out after only 10-12 years, put into ossuaries and replaced by recently deceased.
The proximity of the cemetery and the townhouses posed many problems, the main one being the fact that the drinking water pipelines were built going through the cemetery, carrying diseases (the bubonic plague and cholera epidemies hit also Brno).
The cemetery was closed down in 1784 when the government prohibited establishing and maintaining cemeteries within the urban areas. The remains were transferred to ossuaries as were parts of the graves (especially gravestones), other parts were used for the pavement around the church. The construction-historical exploration started in 2001 and the ossuary was opened to the public in 2012.
Brno Ossuary Today
The guided tour takes about 30 minutes, walking around the ossuary could take even less, depending on whether you want to check out all the details and read the texts.
Before you enter the actual ossuary, you can admire some historical artefacts and see what a skull after trepanation looks like.
The number of people whose remains have been laid to rest here over the years is estimated at more than 50.000 which makes it the second largest ossuary in Europe, right after the catacombs of Paris. The remains have been re-arranged to create an impressive interior. The oldest remains come from the 15th century.
The ambient of reverence is enhanced by the music by Miloš Štědroň, a composer from Brno who composed the tunes especially for the ossuary.
The ossuary is property of the St. James’ parish and the city of Brno rents it until 2026 for 1,- CZK a year.