Ossuaries in Central Europe
Until the 19th century, Roman Catholic ossuaries that displayed human bones were an important part of the burial culture in Europe. From this period forward, these funeral rites have been criticized and the bones stored inside many ossuaries have been reburied in local cemeteries.
Since 2013, we visited, photographed and analyzed more than 300 ossuaries in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic. The journey included visits to several large ossuaries such as Kutná Hora, Paris, Naples, Eggenburg (picture on the left) and Mödling, as well as smaller ones such as Burgschleinitz and Reichholzried, which are small and unknown gems found in remote villages in the countryside of Europe.
Publications:
Höpflinger, Anna-Katharina/ Yves Müller, Eternal Rest - Ossuary Aesthetics, Kyburg: Totechöpfli 2020.
Höpflinger, Anna-Katharina/ Müller, Yves, Ossarium. Beinhäuser der Schweiz, Zürich: Pano 2016.
Müller, Yves/ Höpflinger, Anna-Katharina, Zwischen Irritation und Faszination. Der heutige Umgang mit Beinhäusern in Mitteleuropa, in: Friedhof und Denkmal. Zeitschrift für Sepulkralkultur 60 (2015), 11–15. (Published in German)
