Eerily Beautiful Skull Chapel In Czerma, Poland Made Out Of Thousands Of Human Bones

There is a chapel Czerma, Poland that is made of human bones. From the ceiling to the walls bones adorn the entire place.

In the interior of the modest looking St. Batholomew's Church also called the Kaplica Czaszek (Skull Chapel) are skulls and bones of more than 3,000 people. These bones were used in decorating the ceiling and walls and arranged in diverse patterns commonly in repeating crossed bones Jolly Roger style. Apart from that, another 21,000 skeletons are concealed in the church's crypt below, reports, Smithsonianmag.

Czech priest Vaclav Tomasek and J. Langer, the local gravedigger, collected this Skull Chapel masterpiece. From1776 to 1794 the pair collected, cleaned and arranged as many as 24,000 human skeletons that now fills the church. Most of the skeletons are piled in a 16-foot deep crypt underneath the church, while the rest are creatively displayed in what Tomasek saw as a sanctuary of silence.

Atlas Obscura notes that the bones that now form Skull Chapel were remnants of numerous wars between Catholic, Hussite and Protestants, Poles, Czech, and Germans. In addition, the cholera epidemics that also killed a lot of people left plenty of mass graves which served as the priest's raw materials. Tomasek apparently located these mass graves by observing where local dogs went to dig for bones.

The pair unearthed and cleaned thousands of skeletons and set aside interesting skulls for display in the church. At present, these skulls adorn the Skull Chapel and interesting skulls include the Czermna mayor and his wife, Tartar warrior's skull, a skull Swiss-cheesed by syphilis, skulls with bullet holes, and even the skull of a giant among others. Apart from these skulls, the priest's and the gravedigger's skull were residing with pride over the Chapel of Skulls that is now their resting place.

A trapdoor to the crypt beneath can be accessed where the other 21,000 skeletons were laid to rest. There is a recording in the Skull Chapel that explains the history of the chapel. At present, it is only available in Polish, Czech, and German.