The Skull Chapel
The Skull Chapel in Czermna
This place won’t get out of your head so quickly, unless a picture of hundreds of human skulls in one place is something so ordinary to you that you don’t even raise an eyebrow.
Welcome to the Skull Chapel in Czermna, near Kudawa Zdrój in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (województwo dolnośląskie). It was built in 1776 by the local priest who wanted to make this particular chapel different from the others. And he did it! The chapel itself is nothing other than a mass grave of all the people who gave their lives during the Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648), the Silesian Wars (1740 – 1763) and also of people who died because of various diseases such as cholera.
Father Tomaszek (the priest we’ve already mentioned) collected all the casualties’ remains and put them inside the chapel forming this unique sight. The walls and the ceiling are covered with over three thousand skulls and bones – including the remains of the creators of the chapel (their remains are placed on the main altar). Keep in mind that the Skull Chapel is the only such monument in Poland and one of three in Europe, so you might want to see it with your own eyes.
Check the Skull Chapel on the map!
