Kutna Hora

Chris, who moved to Prague last year, is the only person I know who lives in a "land house." It's situated inside a a public park.

The surrounding neighborhood is lovely, too.

Chris took a day off so we could make a day trip to Kutna Hora in Bohemia. We were inside the chilly Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady and John the Baptist by 10:30 a.m. Construction began in 1290!

"Ornate" is the word for the altar.

This guy has been resting a long time.

Some skulls of Cistercian monks have been preserved, too.  Their thing was manual labor, field work in particular.

Here's John the Baptist from a couple of angles.

And, of course, you know who.

Not sure who this guy is, but he's certainly forceful.

We walked the short distance to the Cemetery Church of All Saints, passing this memorial to Bohemians who were victims of the black plague.

The cemetery church includes an underground ossuary.

40,000 people died to make these macabre creations, including a chandelier, possible. Visitors clamored to take selfies with them.

 

 

 

 

By now, you should know that I can't resist a cemetery.

Our pension in the center of town allowed early check-in, so we dropped off our luggage before an entire afternoon of sightseeing.

First, we walked up a hill to the Church of St. Barbara.  Construction began in 1388.  It took more than 500 years to finish this late Gothic cathedral and only then after it had been reduced to two thirds of its original size.

We saw plenty of statues.

This guy reminded me of Tyrion Lannister.

Just before you get to the main church, there's an empty chapel in a separate building.

Like the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the builders ran out of money before they could finish it.    

Inside the church, the light draws your eyes heavenward to the gorgeous vaulted ceiling.

Several beautifully decorated chapels surround the main altar.  

 

 

The town's symbol was taken from this faded fresco.

We exited through a large wooden door.

Our multi-site ticket included admission to the nearly empty Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region or GASK, a fairly new museum of 20th century art housed in a former Jesuit college.

We figured why not?

 

Jan Hus looked a little forlorn in the midst of all this modernity.  His disillusion with the Catholic church preceded the Reformation by a century.

Children seemed to enjoy the museum more for its empty hallways than the art.

A bad cold had me feeling as exhausted as this dog.

But hey, it wasn't like I was going to be back in Kutna Hora anytime soon, so we meandered around the charming Czech town until it was time for a beer.

Photographing a peace sign is almost as good as throwing one.

This statue celebrates Thomas Masaryk, the founder and first president of what used to be called Czechoslovakia.

Local silver mines once made Kutna Hora wealthy.  Unfortunately, we were too late to tour an old mine.

After dinner at the gayest restaurant in town (who knew?), we strolled back to the Church of St. Barbara.

Although the church is beautifully illuminated, my i-Phone camera couldn't quite manage a money shot.  Sometimes, you just have to be there.