Biking Czech Republic
13 July 2023, Zruč nad Sázavou, 41.22km
Kemp Rákosí 240kč [R199]
Oh, the utter luxury of a deep soft chair intended for lounging! There is one on the verandah behind the restaurant at Kemp Rákosí. I have commandeered it, am lolling in it, and loving it. (Charl, from the black couch on which he is sitting, says it is the dog's bed!)
The campsite is on the edge of a village named Zruč nad Sázavou*. We cycled a marathon distance on quiet roads through a hilly rural scene to get here. We are finding it difficult to find and follow the cycle routes, so put in 10km more than intended. These are often on quieter roads rather than dedicated paths, and are meant to be marked, but either we are missing the signs or the signs are missing.
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Before departing Kutna Hora, we paid a visit to the Sedlec Ossuary. Here is what I wrote when we visited in 1998: "A Cisterian monastery was founded at this site in 1142. In 1278 the King of Bohemia sent Henry, Abbot of Sedlec, on a diplomatic mission to the Holy Land. Henry returned with earth from Golgotha which he scattered in the monastery’s graveyard. The cemetery thus gained considerably in fame and popularity throughout central Europe – especially after the 1318 plague (which alone added 30,000 graves) and the 15th century Hussite wars. In 1400 an All Saints church was erected in the grounds with a chapel built beneath it which, from 1511, was used to store the bones from abolished graves in the overfull graveyard. In 1870 the local authorities commissioned Frantisek Rint to do something creative with the piles of bones. He moulded four gigantic bells, one in each corner of the crypt, designed-wall-to-ceiling decorations – skulls and cross-bones hung like Xmas decorations, hip-bone haloes around dead heads (gives dead-heading a whole new meaning), chalices etc – recreated the Schwarzenburg coat of arms and, for his centrepiece, erected an enormous chandelier made out of every bone in the body. He even signed his name in bones. Although the place is decidedly odd it does not give one the creeps nor was it intended to trivialise the dead. The 30Kc ticket states: You are entering a pious space. Conserve, please, respekt to the dead."
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The ticket is now priced at 120Kc (for seniors) and does not now make the above request. You are no longer allowed to take photographs, however. You can see the couple I took in 1998 at the link below.
The place is not upsetting as are the bone collections of the murdered such as those we have seen in Cambodia.
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* "Taking advantage of local shoemaking traditions, in 1938 one of Bata's factories was established in the village. An airport, a hospital and a school were also to be built, but after the Germans entered in 1939, the plans were not implemented and during the gradual nationalization in 1945, the idea was completely rejected. The plant [became] the main center for the production of children's shoes in Czechoslovakia. In 1989, the plant was privatized."