The mystery of death weighs heavily on humanity, and these more incredible images let us peer into the hidden corners where the departed rest. From medieval charnel houses to modern memorial stupas, each site tells a haunting story of mortality, culture, and memory.
10 Eggenburg Charnel
The little town of Eggenburg in Lower Austria shelters one of Central Europe’s most complete charnel houses. Though it’s relatively unknown, the ossuary holds the remains of 5,800 individuals, of which 2,200 can be traced back to medieval times.
More Incredible Details
Researchers have examined the medieval skulls and found that 410 show a wide variety of injuries while 430 display distinct pathologies. Visitors can only view the bone pit from a raised platform, looking through plexiglass, as entry into the pit itself is prohibited.
9 St. Florian Ossuary
St. Florian Monastery, first documented in the early ninth century, has housed the Canons Regular of St. Augustine since 1071. Named after the martyr St. Florian, patron saint of firefighters, the monastery also boasts one of Austria’s oldest libraries, with 150,000 volumes, 800 medieval manuscripts, and altar panels by Albrecht Altdorfer.
The attached Collegiate Church contains an ossuary and a crypt where former abbey provosts lie. Beneath the 18th‑century organ rests the coffin of composer Anton Bruckner. In the background, up to 6,000 bones from early medieval Christians are visible, a discovery dating back to 1291.
8 Habsburg Imperial Crypt
The Imperial Crypt, also known as the Capuchin Crypt, has served as the final resting place for the Habsburg dynasty since 1633. Twelve emperors and nineteen empresses, including Maria Theresa, Joseph II, Franz Joseph, and Empress Elisabeth, lie here alongside numerous other family members.
Some sarcophagi are eerily ornate, while others, such as Joseph II’s, are starkly simple. In the 1960s, the Children’s Columbarium was added, holding eleven infants—the children of Ferdinand III and Leopold I—highlighting the era’s high infant mortality and the Habsburgs’ inbreeding practices.
7 Stephansdom Crypts And Catacombs
St. Stephen’s Cathedral towers over a network of catacombs and crypts, including the Bishops’ Crypt, the Provosts’ Crypt, and the Ducal Crypt. These chambers house the remains of priests, bishops, and archbishops who served the cathedral.
While the Habsburgs’ bodies rest in the Imperial Crypt, their hearts were interred at the Augustinerkirche and their organs at St. Stephen’s. The catacombs also contain the tomb of Eugene de Savoy, whose crucifix features a beard made of real hair. During the 1735 plague, bones from nearby cemeteries were moved here, resulting in roughly 11,000 individuals being stacked in over 30 rooms.
6 Phnom Penh Memorial Stupa
Located 15 km southwest of Phnom Penh, the glass‑capped Memorial Stupa forms part of the Choeung Ek Center for Genocide Crimes. Originally a graveyard, the site became a killing field during the Khmer Rouge’s 1977‑78 purges, claiming over 17,000 lives.
Designed by architect Lim Ourk and erected in 1988, the stupa commemorates the victims. In Buddhist tradition, a stupa houses the earthly remains of revered individuals, acting as a bridge between the living and the dead. Most of those interred here were transferred from the secret S‑21 prison.
5 Brno Ossuary And Crypt
St. James Church, home to the relics of St. Clementine‑the‑Martyr, also contains a notable ossuary and crypt, often referred to as the Capuchin Monastery Crypt. The space holds skeletons and mummified bodies of monks and benefactors, preserved by the natural conditions that favor mummification.
From the mid‑17th to the late‑18th century, remains were collected and arranged in various displays—some simply lying on the ground, others placed in glass‑topped coffins. An imperial edict in 1784 halted further burials due to disease concerns. In 2001, archaeological surveys rediscovered the ossuary, revealing rooms filled with piles of human bones, sometimes reaching the vault arches. Approximately 50,000 individuals—victims of plague, cholera, the Thirty Years’ War, and Swedish sieges—are buried here.
4 Klatovy Catacombs
The catacombs beneath the Church of the Immaculate Conception & St. Ignatius in Klatovy held more than 200 burials between 1676 and 1783, primarily members of the order and their benefactors.
The constant 15 °C temperature and an early ventilation system created ideal conditions for natural mummification. However, grave robbers and later damage to the ventilation system in the 20th century led to the deterioration of many mummified corpses. Restoration efforts have preserved the remaining 38 bodies, now cared for by dedicated preservers.
3 Krtiny Ossuary
Nestled in the Moravian Karst, the pilgrimage town of Krtiny—often called the Pearl of Moravia—revealed an ossuary beneath the Baroque Church of St. Mary in 1991. Designed by Jan Santini‑Aichel, the church also boasts a Gothic Virgin Mary statue and a carillon.
The ossuary contains the remains of over 975 individuals, ranging from local villagers and hermits to pilgrims who perished on the site. Notably, twelve skulls are painted with the letter “T” and adorned with laurel wreaths, dating from the late 13th to the mid‑18th century.
2 Melnik Chapel Of Bones
Just an hour north of Prague, the wine‑rich town of Melnik offers the Renaissance Melnik Chateau and a chilling ossuary. The former crypt of the 15th‑century Church of Sts. Peter and Paul was converted into an ossuary after a 16th‑century plague.
More than 10,000 skeletal remains were stacked in varied patterns, and visitors can walk over a beaten‑earth floor while contemplating the mass of bones beneath their feet.
1 St. Catherine’s Monastery
The charnel house of St. Catherine’s Monastery is filled with the bones of monks, sorted into piles of skulls, arms, hands, legs, and feet. Among the remains sits the skeleton of the sixth‑century monk St. Stephen the Porter, dressed in a purple robe and holding a staff.
When a monk dies, his body is buried nearby, and the oldest corpse from that cemetery is exhumed and moved to the charnel. The monastery, founded in the sixth century by Emperor Justinian I, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and remains active to this day, serving three world religions—Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It also houses the Chapel of the Burning Bush, a Mosaic of the Transfiguration, and a library of ancient Christian manuscripts.