Kutná Hora's astonishing Sedlec Ossuary admits only a set number of visitors each half-hour, so it must be booked for a fixed date and time — we secure your dated entry and send you plain-English joining notes before it sells out.
Check dates & reservedated timed-entry admission to the Sedlec Ossuary and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec
€18
the combined ticket covering the Sedlec Ossuary, the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec and the Cathedral of St Barbara in the old town
€29
“The ossuary is tiny and it was already showing full for the times we wanted. They found us a slot on our one free morning and explained exactly which train to take from Prague. Standing under that chandelier of bones is something I'll never forget.”
“Booked the combined ticket for the two of us — ossuary, the cathedral next door and St Barbara's in the old town. Clear, in English, in euros, with a sensible route between them. It turned a confusing plan into an easy day trip.”
“I didn't realise you had to pick a time in advance until they told me. They sorted the reservation and sent joining notes with the address in Sedlec, which is not actually in the old town. Would have got that wrong on my own.”
audio guide
A short, plain-English introduction to listen to before you go — what you're about to see beneath the church, and how it came to be.
A calm, factual guide — not a ghost tour. The ossuary is a place of remembrance as well as wonder.
The Sedlec Ossuary is a small Roman Catholic chapel beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints, in the Sedlec suburb of Kutná Hora, about an hour east of Prague. What makes it one of the most extraordinary — and most photographed — interiors in Europe is what fills it: the artistically arranged bones of an estimated forty to seventy thousand people. Garlands of skulls loop from the vaults, four great bone pyramids stand in the corners, and at the centre hangs a chandelier said to contain at least one of every bone in the human body.
The bones came from a cemetery that medieval Europe believed to be holy ground. In the thirteenth century an abbot of the Sedlec monastery is said to have scattered soil from Golgotha across the burial ground, and it became one of the most sought-after places to be buried in Central Europe; plague and war filled it many times over. When the graves were cleared, the bones were kept in the ossuary — and in 1870 the Schwarzenberg family, who owned the estate, engaged the woodcarver František Rint to bring order to the heaps. What he composed instead was a work of art, signed in bone on the wall, that draws well over two hundred thousand visitors a year.
Because the chapel is small and underground, the operator admits only a limited number of visitors in each half-hourly window, and tickets must be bought for a specific date and time. Independent visitors who simply arrive — especially in summer or around Halloween — routinely face long waits or a full chapel. That is where a booking service earns its place: we book your timed entry ahead, secure the dated slot you want, explain whether the ossuary-only or the combined Kutná Hora ticket suits your day, and send clear directions from Prague, so one of Bohemia's strangest and most moving sights doesn't slip through a booking you didn't know you needed.
Sedlec Ossuary Tickets is an independent booking-assistance service for international visitors. We are not the ossuary, the Cemetery Church of All Saints or its operating parish, and we are not an official partner. What we provide is a personalised service in your own language: we help you choose the right ticket — the ossuary alone, or the combined Kutná Hora ticket — and once you confirm and pay, we purchase the official dated timed-entry ticket from the operator's authorised channel on your behalf and deliver it to you. Our service fee is included in the price shown. If you would prefer to buy directly, the operator's official reservation site is sedlec.info.
The Sedlec Ossuary — the 'Kostnice' or 'Bone Church' — is a small Roman Catholic chapel beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora about an hour east of Prague. It holds the artistically arranged bones of an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 people, including four great bone pyramids and a famous chandelier said to contain at least one of every bone in the human body, composed by the woodcarver František Rint in 1870. It is one of the most visited sights in the Czech Republic.
In practice, yes. The ossuary is a small underground chapel with a capacity-limited, timed-entry system: admission is released in half-hourly windows and dated tickets sell out days ahead in summer and around Halloween. Turning up without a booking often means a long wait or no entry for the time you want. Booking ahead secures a confirmed date and entry time.
Tickets are for a specific date and a specific half-hourly entry window. You arrive within your window and are admitted with your group; inside, most visitors spend around 30–45 minutes. Your ticket shows the exact time, and we send plain-English joining notes so you know where to go and when to be there.
The ossuary ticket covers the Sedlec Ossuary itself together with the adjoining Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady at Sedlec. The combined Kutná Hora ticket adds the Cathedral of St Barbara, the great Gothic church crowning the old town about 3 km away. If you plan to see the old town as well, the combined ticket is the natural choice; if you only want the bone chapel and the cathedral beside it, the ossuary ticket is enough.
It is the Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady and St John the Baptist, a remarkable Baroque-Gothic church next to the ossuary, redesigned by the architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel in the early eighteenth century. It is a UNESCO-listed monument in its own right and is included with your ossuary admission, so it is well worth stepping inside while you are there.
Kutná Hora's historic centre, together with the Cathedral of St Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995. The ossuary sits beside the Sedlec cathedral within this celebrated heritage landscape, which is part of what draws visitors from around the world.
The simplest way is the train from Prague's main station (Praha hlavní nádraží) to Kutná Hora, about an hour on direct services. Kutná Hora's main station in Sedlec is a short walk from the ossuary. To continue to St Barbara's Cathedral and the old town, a local shuttle train and buses cover the roughly 3 km. We send clear directions with your confirmation.
No, and this catches many visitors out. The ossuary is in Sedlec, a suburb northeast of the historic old town, next to Kutná Hora's main railway station. The famous Gothic St Barbara's Cathedral and the medieval streets are about 3 km away. If you are doing both, plan the short hop between them — our joining notes explain how.
Around 30–45 minutes inside the ossuary and the cathedral next door. If you add St Barbara's and the old town on the combined ticket, Kutná Hora fills a relaxed day trip from Prague, with time for lunch and a wander through the historic streets.
The operator offers reduced rates for eligible visitors such as students, young people and seniors, and a lower child rate, with very young children admitted free. Choose the tier that matches each member of your party at checkout; you may be asked to show photo ID or a student card on the day. If you are unsure which rate applies, tell us and we'll confirm before we book.
No — and this catches many visitors out. Since 1 January 2020 the parish has banned all photography and filming inside the ossuary chapel, to restore dignity to a consecrated place that had become a backdrop for selfies. The rule is enforced; you are asked to put cameras and phones away inside. You may photograph the exterior and the grounds freely. It is, after all, a resting place for tens of thousands of people, and is best experienced with your own eyes rather than through a screen.
Many families visit, and older children often find it fascinating, but it is a genuine ossuary filled with human bones and some younger or more sensitive children may find it unsettling. You know your own children best. It is quiet and dimly lit, and everyone is asked to behave respectfully as they would in a church.
Access is limited — the chapel is a historic underground space reached by steps, and it can be tight inside. If anyone in your party has mobility needs, tell us before booking and we'll confirm the current arrangements and any alternatives so you can decide with full information.
The chapel looks the same in any season, so timing is mostly about crowds. Summer, weekends and the period around Halloween are busiest and sell out earliest; spring and autumn weekdays are quieter. Whatever the date, book your timed slot first and build the rest of your Kutná Hora day around it. Early or late entry windows tend to be calmest.
Once you confirm and pay, we purchase the official dated timed-entry ticket from the operator's authorised channel on your behalf and email it to you, along with plain-English joining notes: which train to take from Prague, where the ossuary is in Sedlec, and how to reach St Barbara's if you have the combined ticket. You show your ticket at the entrance.
Neither — we're an independent booking-assistance service for international visitors. We are not the ossuary, the Cemetery Church of All Saints or its operating parish, and we are not an official partner; we help you book and buy the official ticket in your own language, with our service fee included in the price. If you'd rather buy directly, the operator's official reservation site is sedlec.info.
Timed-entry tickets are dated and time-specific, and all sales are final once booked. If the operator cancels your entry — for operational or other reasons on their side — we refund you in full. We recommend travel insurance to cover changes to your own plans.
Yes — that is exactly what the combined Kutná Hora ticket is for. We set your ossuary entry time and give you a sensible route to St Barbara's Cathedral and the old town afterwards, so you see all three monuments comfortably in a single day trip from Prague.