Although Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday, its purpose – honoring those who have given their lives in the service of their nation – exists throughout the world. Within that common spirit of commemoration are national monuments for fallen service members “known but to God,” buried in “tombs of the unknowns.” These tombs contain the remains of deceased service members whose identities could not be determined, established as a means of recognizing them for their sacrifice.
In the U.S., the dedicated monument is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, created following World War I (1914-1918). Elsewhere, there exists a very peculiar tomb of the unknowns – one not given that title but fulfilling its function nonetheless. This one is different because the soldiers’ remains aren’t just in the tomb; they are the tomb. The monument itself is constructed of their bones, as well as those of others who wished to be buried in so sacred a space.
Read on to honor Memorial Day by discovering historic warriors worthy of remembrance: fellow citizens of the human nation who fought for what they believed in.
A sentinel walks in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
The Medieval Ossuary of Sedlec
The bone-built memorial, the Sedlec Ossuary, is in Sedlec’s Cathedral in Kutná Hora, a medieval town roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Prague, Czech Republic. It hold the bones of 40,000 people, including unidentified soldiers from the Hussite Wars (1419-1434).
The volume of bones is the product of war, plague and special requests. Originally, Sedlec was home to only a modest chapel. In 1278, the Bohemian king sent the abbot of the Sedlec Cistercian Monastery to Jerusalem, and the abbot returned with a jar’s worth of soil from Golgotha, the site of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. As word got around that “holy soil” was in this small church in Sedlec, people came from all over to be buried there. At a certain point, the church’s cemetery had to be expanded to accommodate the morbid tourism.
The bones amassed to the point where they needed additional storage. When a Gothic cathedral was built near the church’s cemetery in the 1400s, the cathedral’s basement became an ossuary – basically, a storage unit for bones. There they sat for about 400 years.
In 1784, the ossuary and surrounding area were purchased by the Schwarzenbergs, one of the most significant noble families in the Czech lands. Nearly a century later, woodcarver Frantisek Rint was appointed to creatively arrange the underground mountain range of bones. When the ossuary’s renovation was complete, the structure contained a 100% bone chandelier comprising at least one of every bone in the body, a 100% bone tower and a 100% bone chalice, as well as numerous tidy pyramids of bones. There’s also a 100% bone coat-of-arms of the House of Schwarzenberg depicting a severed Turk’s head and a raven. Additionally, the skulls of the soldiers from the Hussite Wars have their own display.
The Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms made of bones in the Sedlec Ossuary/Photo Credit: Pudelek (Marcin Szala), CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Background
Historic Bohemia (Czech Republic)
Until Jan. 1, 1993, the Czech Republic was not a stand-alone country. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire was defeated in World War I, what had been the nations of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia became federated as Czechoslovakia in 1918. (“Czech Lands” is what the region containing Bohemia and Moravia had been called.) Bohemia is where the 15th century Hussite soldiers showcased in 21st century Sedlec fought and perished.
Catholic Loyalists vs. Christendom Reformists
In Bohemia in the mid-1300s, a religious reform movement began to grow as people objected to the Catholic Church’s rapid accumulation of enormous wealth. By 1378, Western Christendom was divided between two simultaneously reigning rival popes, with Prague’s Bethlehem Chapel being a focal point for opposing allegiances. In 1402, Jan Hus, a reformist who argued that the Church had deviated from its origins, was appointed to preach in that church.
Through a convoluted entanglement of religion and politics, Hus was burned at the stake in July 1415, dying a martyr. His followers became known as “Hussites,” and they carried his mission forward. Although the Catholic Church had emerged from the Bohemian Reformation triumphant, the Hussites were given freedom of religion … mostly.
The Hussite Battle of Kutná Hora
Blood-soaked crusades raged on between reformists and loyalists years after the martyrdom of Jan Hus and numerous others had sparked untamable hostility between the two sides. In December 1421, the Battle of Kutná Hora took place. In it, the Hussites gained an initial edge over King Sigismund’s German-Hungarian forces through their effective use of artillery against repeated attacks. However, when the king’s forces began attacking civilians in Prague, the Hussites retreated to minimize the already large number of casualties.
Months later, the Hussites retaliated and managed to take back Prague, driving Sigismund’s forces out of Bohemia. In what had become a grassroots war of peasants versus royalty, this set a precedent for the Czech people’s resisting authority and emerging victorious.
The Battle of Lipany in 1434 painted by Josef Mathauser
Remember Those Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice
Tragically, the Hussites succumbed to internal struggles, and a “less radical” Hussite faction allied with the Catholic loyalists, ultimately defeating the Hussite movement through the decisive Battle of Lipany in 1434. Thus, theirs is a sad tale to tell – but history can’t be limited to happy stories.
On a day when fallen soldiers with no names to speak across the centuries are remembered, spare a moment for those whose bones lie in repose in the Sedlec Ossuary. They might not share your nationality or faith or ancestry, but they were willing to give their lives for what they believed. And that’s worth a moment of reflection.
Kathleen Hearons is a writer, editor, linguist and voice over actor from Los Angeles. She specializes in creative writing and research-intensive analysis and reporting.
Sources and Suggested Reading
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Mark, Joshua J. “Hussite Wars.” World History. Nov. 18, 2021. Accessed May 16, 2025. https://www.worldhistory.org/Hussite_Wars/.
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“Memorial Day History.” National Cemetery Association, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Last updated Feb. 27, 2025. Accessed May 16, 2025. https://www.cem.va.gov/history/Memorial-Day-history.asp.
Patowary, Kaushik. “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Around the World.” Amusing Planet. July 11, 2015. Accessed May 16, 2025. https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/07/tomb-of-unknown-soldier-around-world.html.
Schumann, Matt. “Battle of Kutná Hora.” EBSCO. 2023. Accessed May 17, 2025. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/military-history-and-science/battle-kutna-hora.
Schumann, Matt. “Hussite Wars.” EBSCO. 2023. Accessed May 17, 2025. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/hussite-wars.
“Schwarzenbergs.” Český Krumlov (Czech Republic). Accessed May 17, 2025. https://encyklopedie.ckrumlov.cz/en/mesto_histor_schwar/.
Sedlec Ossuary. Accessed May 16, 2025. https://sedlecossuary.com/.
“Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” U.S. Department of Defense. Accessed May 16, 2025. https://www.defense.gov/multimedia/experience/tomb-of-the-unknown-soldier/.
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