The rest of Kutna Hora, part 3 - Czech blog #18

Well, you know me, so when I say this is the last post from my trip to the Czech Republic the end of September, you realize I might not be completely done. Thanksgiving is next week after all, so I might share one more episode with that in mind.

So here are a few random pictures from the city of Kutná Hora, located in the center of the country, about an hour’s drive east of Prague.

Earlier this week, I posted way too many pictures from the inside of St Barbara’s church. This is the view just outside looking to the right.

If you start walking away from the church and look to the left, you’ll encounter the Jesuit college.

Continue walking and you’ll be going along the Gallery of Sculptures.

Of course, they are all of someone famous in Bohemian history, but I’m not game to look them all up right now.

According to our guide, this building is open for tours and was part of the silver mine in town. On line, I found that this particular building housed a horse-powered winch used to pull material from the mine to the surface.

The view looking back at St Barbara's and the college.

A ranom wall. I'm not sure where. 

The Church of Saint James the Great was built in the Gothic style between 1300 and 1370.

The Stone Fountain is a twelve-side stone structure located in Rejsek Square. From 1495 to 1663, it supplied the city with drinking water, since many other sources of water were disrupted by mining activities.

Most of the towns we visited on this trip had a Plague Column. Kutná Hora is no different; its Baroque column commemorates those who died during the plague epidemic in 1713.

Perhaps, the last rose of summer. 

St Barbara Church, Kutná Hora, part 2 - Czech Blog post #17

I would love to jump in and just show you pictures of the St Barbara Church in Kutná Hora, but I really feel the need to share just a teeny bit of the town’s history first.

Though other metals, such as copper and zinc, were mined around Kutná Hora as early as the 1^st century B.C., it wasn’t until silver was discovered in the 10^th century that the town found prosperity and posterity too. 

It was during these boom years, that building on St Barabara’s Church began, in 1388. The church was named after Saint Barbara, the patron saint of all those working in dangerous professions, especially miners. The local silver mines allowed the town to flourish, and the hard-working miners helped to build the church. 

However, in the mid-16th century, the Kutná Hora mines ran out of silver, and construction on St. Barbara’s had to be temporarily stopped. It was originally supposed to be nearly twice the size it is now. I can’t imagine that! 

Over the next centuries work continued, off and on, with a lot of changes, such as going from Gothic to Baroque. Does anyone out there really know the difference?  

One of the most distinctive features, from the outside at least, are the three roof peaks, which represent the three hills surrounding Kutná Hora: Kuklik, Kaňk and Sukov.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the beautiful stained-glass windows were all painted by František Urban. They mostly show Christian themes or significant events of the time.

 

Not sure what any of these are about, but the one below has a picture of the three tent peaks from the church. 

It was a very overwhelming building and we didn’t have nearly enough time to take it all in.

Life is crazy, isn't it?

I sure wish I could promise you this would be my final post about my daughter, Val, but I’m not always so good at keeping promises. But just like me, you’re gonna have to take it one blog at a time, one day at a time.

On Monday, August 25, we all met down at the funeral home to make arrangements. We all agreed we wanted to keep things simple, short, and quick. But fitting. I don’t know. People said we did a beautiful job presenting a fitting tribute to Val. But, again, I don’t know. It was Val, her life, not any of us.

But anyway, sitting in the funeral home office, we had to decide what to put in the little card they always have for people to take. The thing that Hubby has to bring home from every visitation or funeral we go to, and it sits on the kitchen counter, bugging me for weeks before I finally throw it away.

The funeral home lady (Karri, an absolute sweetheart, by the way) offered suggestions from the standard funeral card book. Not a one was even close to Val.

Her boyfriend suggested we use the words from the Tom Petty song from the tattoo on her back. We knew it was something about wildflowers and could all picture it, but none of us could pull the words out of our brains.

We finished our business, and I told Karri we’d figure out the lyrics and get back to her.

That night, when I couldn’t sleep (as if I thought I would ever sleep again without taking any drugs), I went on my laptop and started looking up the lyrics for all of the Tom Petty songs.

Duh! The song is literally named “Wildflowers.”

This week, I was working on cleaning up my computer by deleting some of the thousands of pictures I’ve stored from all my travels. In 2017, Val and I went on one of our many trips to Kenya, and one day she got sunburned while wearing a shirt with straps in a pattern across her back. And there were those words, blowing along her back with flower petals. Did she ever think those words would mean so much one day? 

Life. It’s crazy, isn’t it? We’ll never be able to understand it. All we can do is keep muddling along, praising God that He has it under control.  

Big Church and Church of Bones near Kutná Hora - Czech Blog post #16

The journal of my trip to the Czech Republic is winding down.

Our last day there, we rode an hour to the historic town of Kutná Hora, known as a center for medieval silver mining and as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Our first stop was in the village of Sedlec just outside of Kutná Hora. Also known as the Bone Church, the Sedlec Ossuary is filled with over 40,000 human bones, all arranged into macabre decorations such as chandeliers, garlands, and even a coat of arms. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside, but you can Google pictures of it.  

The story goes that, in 1278, an abbot from Sedlec brought back dirt from Golgotha in the Holy Land and spread it over the local cemetery. When people found that out, they all wanted their loved ones to be buried there. 

The cemetery started to grow because of that, but things got out of hand when Europe was hit by various wars and plagues over the next two centuries. Finally, they built the church, which had an upper and lower level. Because the lower level was below ground, the skeletons from the cemetery could be “buried” there.   

In 1870, František Rint, a woodcarver, was hired to put the heaps of bones in order. Apparently, he let out his creative side when he turned every bone in the human body into artwork.

A short walk down the street is the Cathedral of Assumption of our Lady and St John the Baptist. 

This Baroque Gothic church is also an UNESCO World Heritage site, but since I already said so much about the Bone Church and I was able to take pictures in this other, bigger church, I won’t bore you with facts. I’ll just show you pictures. 

It was pretty impressive, and I do wish I remember what all these things were, or had the energy to find out. 

Misc, Dresden part III - Czech Blog post #15

Well, I’ve already told you enough of the history of Dresden, Germany, to fill two blogs. We saw so much more and I would love to tell you even more. But I will rein myself in at this point and just share lots of randomness from the rest of the city.

Some places I can label; about others I am relatively clueless. Ok, I’m usually clueless, but such is my life. 

Known as the The Fürstenzug, or Procession of Princes in English, this long mural made of porcelain tiles shows Saxon rulers throughout the ages.

Stallhof or Stall Courtyard is where the stables were for the Dresden palace and was built in 1586. Jousting tournaments and other competitions on horseback were held there. 

The Opera House, called The Semperoper, after its architect, Gottfried Semper. The statue is of Johann King of Saxony.  

The Baroque Zwinger Palace. The term "Zwinger" was the name used in the Middle Ages for part of a fortress between the outer and inner walls. Interestingly, the exact on-line translation for zwinger is “kennel”. 

Because this building was on the other side of the Elbe River, we didn’t get close to it. My online search leads me to believe it is some government administration building. 

The pictures above and below are part of the Academy of Fine Arts. Once again, I found way too much information on the internet, so I’m leaving it at that, except to add the word: Zitronenpresse.

Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and one of the many statues along its sides. 

Flowers and sometimes you don’t even need a translation.