Passing souvenir stores selling an assortment of skull knickknacks, we knew that we were headed in the right direction.

Ahead of us was the archway into the cemetery surrounding the Chapel of All Saints and its ossuary, better known as the Church of Bones.

It is believed that the area was sprinkled with earth from Golgotha, where Jesus was said to have been crucified. According to legend, a corpse buried in the cemetery would decompose within three days and only blanched bones would remain.

The promise of being interred in what was considered holy land while avoiding the lengthy process of gradual decomposition resulted in the cemetery becoming a highly desirable burial place.

Eventually the cemetery became overcrowded and the remains were moved to a crypt to make room for the newly deceased.

In 1870, a local woodcarver was hired to artistically arrange the thousands of bones in the crypt. It resulted in various displays made from 40,000 skeletons. A chandelier containing every bone in the human body hangs over four skull candelabras. Six huge bone pyramids fill the alcoves and there is the family coat of arms of a local aristocratic family that depicts a raven pecking out the eye of a Turk soldier on one part of the shield.

At around noon, tourist buses disgorge hordes of people eager to visit the ossuary, and the reception area where tickets and a few souvenirs are sold can get so full that people all but start using their own bones to elbow each other out of the way.

Giving up and visiting a few souvenir shops down the road proved to be a good idea, for after buying a few skull keepsakes and ornaments with Czech crystal settings, we headed back to the church to find it almost deserted.

Within these walls: From the outside the Chapel of All Saints looks like any other church and graveyard. (JP/Linda Hollands)

Passing souvenir stores selling an assortment of skull knickknacks, we knew that we were headed in the right direction.

Ahead of us was the archway into the cemetery surrounding the Chapel of All Saints and its ossuary, better known as the Church of Bones.

It is believed that the area was sprinkled with earth from Golgotha, where Jesus was said to have been crucified. According to legend, a corpse buried in the cemetery would decompose within three days and only blanched bones would remain.

The promise of being interred in what was considered holy land while avoiding the lengthy process of gradual decomposition resulted in the cemetery becoming a highly desirable burial place.

Eventually the cemetery became overcrowded and the remains were moved to a crypt to make room for the newly deceased.

In 1870, a local woodcarver was hired to artistically arrange the thousands of bones in the crypt. It resulted in various displays made from 40,000 skeletons. A chandelier containing every bone in the human body hangs over four skull candelabras. Six huge bone pyramids fill the alcoves and there is the family coat of arms of a local aristocratic family that depicts a raven pecking out the eye of a Turk soldier on one part of the shield.

At around noon, tourist buses disgorge hordes of people eager to visit the ossuary, and the reception area where tickets and a few souvenirs are sold can get so full that people all but start using their own bones to elbow each other out of the way.

Giving up and visiting a few souvenir shops down the road proved to be a good idea, for after buying a few skull keepsakes and ornaments with Czech crystal settings, we headed back to the church to find it almost deserted.