Last Summer, we met up with fellow English-speaking bloggers in Germany. The meeting destination was Cologne, and we spent a weekend seeing some of what the city had to offer.
Of course in Cologne, churches are the thing to see. it's the heart of Catholicism in Germany.
They do have "the Twelve Romanesque Churches of Cologne" (plus countless others), after all.
We have already posted cool photos from the famous Dom (cathedral), and the Great St. Martin Church.
Our last one was the Church of St. Ursula. (Wide photo courtesy of Wikipedia):
There is a unique top to the tower, with a mixture of yellowish wood and a crown-shaped base for the cross:
Inside has the "typical" large stained glass windows towering behind the altar...
...with the crucified Jesus hanging around...
...plus a few other icons scattered throughout the interior...
...and various statues and busts above and below.
So, at first, the Church of St. Ursula appears to be your normal Christian house of worship. Except the bones.
LOTS of human bones.
A large reliquary, connected near the entrance of the church, contains thousands of bones. They are are main "decoration". Below, they cover almost the entire top of the wall above the altar in the reliquary:
Why? The church was built on the site containing ruins of an old Roman cemetery. It was here where the legend of St. Ursula claims that 11,000 martyred virgins were buried. And we all know what to do with relics of thousands of martyred virgins:
In case you didn't notice in the photo above, these (below) are what lie on the shelves:
Here's a little more help to see the shelves, by zooming in:
The different sizes and shapes of the human bones are used to create designs and letters/words:
Here we have ribs, joints...
...major limbs...
...and others that require Gray's Anatoms to identify.
It's quite interesting, really, and the room is always very quiet and peaceful (but nowhere to sit).
All four walls have a large display/collage of bones, so the scale of the collection is quite, um, impressive.
It was a great last stop during the weekend in Cologne. Definitely worth a visit on your next visit.