It is called “The Charnel House” or “Bone House” in St. Michael’s Chapel, the chapel dates back to the 12th century and located next to the catholic parish church. There are over 1.200 artistically painted skulls stored in this small chapel.
In the old times, the town cemetery was too small and could not expand any longer, so they decided to take out the dead after 15 years and keep the skulls in the sun and moonlight until they were totally clean and bleached. After that they painted the skulls with flowers and leaves because the drawings were meant to replace the flowers on the grave.
In front of the chapel, there is a beautiful cemetery, yes I said beautiful, because each grave decorated with a colorful flowers and plants, just like a small garden. Following the rules of the cemetery there are no family graves. A grave can be re-occupied after ten years. The dead are buried horizontally, the grave verge covers only a small part of the grave. Above the graves is the sign of Christ, a cross, made of wood or wrought steel.
Hallstatt for us is a small city which is rich of histories.
🙏Follow me on Instagram for the pictures behind this video making :
Song :
Lost in Pray
I don’t want to do this without you
AloJapan.com