May
31
/ 2019
Overlooking the Alps, in the idyllic Austrian mountain town of Hallstatt, a few hundred grave markers indicate the resting place of former residents. But those who choose to be buried there know that their final resting place will not be the sleepy little graveyard, but the subterranean charnel house (known as the beinhaus or ‘bone house’) a few short steps away. The charnel house is home to over 1000 skeletons, with skulls neatly stacked up on top of one another. The macabre practice may seem outrageous today but storing older skeletons in ossuaries like this was not uncommon in the past. There are many striking examples across Europe, such as the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic with its skeletal
