When biking in Germany and Austria between Melk to Krems we stopped in the small village of St. Michael to visit a rather unusual church. Our guide told us. “This hilly area is wine country. You can see the vineyards are terraced as space is at a premium. The cemetery is very small, but 11,000 people have been buried here. In order to accommodate that many people, eventually skeletons had to be dug up to make room for more recent burials.”
What did they do with all the old bones? In a room in the back of the church they created an altar with the old dug up skulls. It was pretty eerie. A large wire bin was full of long bones—those from the arms and legs. The whole room was really spooky.
A docent informed us, “Many years ago churches were built as fortresses to protect the village from invaders. This church originally had five towers, but only one remains today, and the gun turret is clearly visible. Also in those days people didn’t have money to pay for services so they paid in produce, eggs, chickens, or whatever they had. As a result this church had a nice wine cellar and two rooms to keep smoked meats cool.
“This church in St. Michael was closed from 1784-1950. In 1950 it took the residents three years to clean up the inside of the church as birds had been nesting within for literally centuries. You can’t imagine what a mess that was! In 1965 the church was renovated. The altar came from another church and is really too big for this small church. Only a few church services are held each year, but many weddings and concerts are held here.”
An interesting if spooky visit. Not too long ago I picked up the end of a TV program that featured a similar skull room, but I missed where or exactly where it was, other than the fact that it was not the church I had visited.
