Page 11 - Ulpan-Or E-Tone 01.11.16 Advanced Level

E-Tone™: Ulpan-Or Weekly News Digest

Item #2 (Advanced Level)

The Church of Bones

About an hour away from Prague, in a small town called Kutná Hora,
resides the Sedlec church. Yes, all of these skeletons are real human bones
and they (have been) decorating this church for centuries. The story of the
church actually begins here in Israel, during the crusades a crusader named
Henry took a handful of earth from Jerusalem and brought it back to
Europe. He scattered the earth at a small local cemetery and in doing so
made it the most sought-after burial grounds in the area, since everyone
wanted to be buried in the holy ground. The cemetery grew bigger, and the
church decided to store some of the skeletons in the cellar. The legend tells
of a half-blind monk who was made in charge of keeping the bones and
began organizing them in geometrical shapes. The church got the artistic
shape that can be seen today during a renovation that finished in the year
one thousand eight hundred and seventy. As much as this macabre beauty
can be seen as death worship, its purpose is actually to make a person
appreciate life, by thinking that death is lurking around the corner. About
two hundred thousand tourists come here every year from all over the
world. A sign at the site entrance implores visitors, ‘Memento Mori’ -
remember death. And the tourists themselves? The tourists mostly want to
get a selfie.

Page 11 - Edition 11-01-16

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