Skull Chapel in Czermna
Encyclopedia
Skull Chapel in Czermna is a chapel situated in Kudowa-Zdrój
, Lower Silesian Voivodeship
, Poland
. This unusual chapel was built in 1776 by the local parish priest Wacław Tomaszek. It is the mass grave of people who died during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), three Silesian Wars
(1740–1763), as well as of people who died because of cholera epidemics and hunger.
Together with J. Schmidt and J. Langer, Tomaszek collected the casualties’ bones and put them in the chapel. Walls of this small, baroque church are filled with three thousand skulls, and there are also bones of another 21 thousand people hidden in the basement of it. Every bone in this place is authentic. Skulls of people who created the chapel are put in the centre of it and placed on the altar.
It is the only such monument in Poland, and one of three in Europe. It is situated in one of the oldest villages in Kłodzko County, near Kudowa Zdrój, in the Lower Silesia, Poland.
Kudowa-Zdrój
Kudowa-Zdrój is a town situated in the foothills of the Stołowe Mountains in the southwestern part of Poland, in Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, about 400 m above sea level. It has a population of about 10,000...
, Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province , is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is currently divided. It lies in southwestern Poland...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. This unusual chapel was built in 1776 by the local parish priest Wacław Tomaszek. It is the mass grave of people who died during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), three Silesian Wars
Silesian Wars
The Silesian Wars were a series of wars between Prussia and Austria for control of Silesia. They formed parts of the larger War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. They eventually ended with Silesia being incorporated into Prussia, and Austrian recognition of this...
(1740–1763), as well as of people who died because of cholera epidemics and hunger.
Together with J. Schmidt and J. Langer, Tomaszek collected the casualties’ bones and put them in the chapel. Walls of this small, baroque church are filled with three thousand skulls, and there are also bones of another 21 thousand people hidden in the basement of it. Every bone in this place is authentic. Skulls of people who created the chapel are put in the centre of it and placed on the altar.
It is the only such monument in Poland, and one of three in Europe. It is situated in one of the oldest villages in Kłodzko County, near Kudowa Zdrój, in the Lower Silesia, Poland.
External links
- http://www.poland.gov.pl/Skull,Chapel,8372.html
- http://www.kudowa.zdroj.pl/abc/turystyka/kudowa/czermna.htm
- http://www.naszesudety.pl/?p=artykulyShow&iArtykul=714