Ossuary

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Capela dos Ossos - Ossuary of the Igreja Real de São Francisco in Évora , Portugal

The charnel house , even Ossarium or ossuary (from latin os , " bone ", plural: ossa ) is a covered space for storage of bones is determined. The termKarner , also Carnarium , Gerner , Kärnter , in some places also " Seelhaus " and called differently, refers to a chapel also used as an ossuary . In some places the complex has two levels, the upper one as a prayer room, the lower one as a leg cellar. In the canton of Schwyz in central Switzerland, the term Kerchel is used for a cemetery chapel that is both a burial room and an ossuary (like the Kerchel from Schwyz or that from Muotathal ).

Origin and building history

Ossuary of the Church of St. Peter Mistail
Oppenheim ossuary

In Judaism , bone boxes made of stone are called ossuaries . After the body had rotted away, the remaining bones were cleaned and placed in ossuaries. At the time of the aboveground burial ban in the period up to around 1200, these were mostly placed in underground catacombs , but have not played a role in this religion since the beginning of burials.

There are various reasons for creating ossuaries. In part, these are collection points for the bones from cemeteries , where space had to be created for further burials , for which existing grave fields were re-occupied ( reburial of the bones) (example: Sant'Ariano in the lagoon of Venice ). An increase in the European population made the introduction of the ossuary necessary in the 11th and 12th centuries. It was not a change in the theological thinking of Christianity, but "this decisive step had become necessary solely because of practical requirements".

The ossuary is often associated with a cemetery chapel. The ossuary Karner or Gerner is specifically called in this form , this is the expression common in Austria and Bavaria. There are important ossuary from the 12th century in Hartberg and Mistelbach as well as one from the 13th century in Tulln or the Magdalenenkapelle Hall in Tirol .

In Lorraine , for example, there are ossuaries in a crypt beneath the church of Vintrange open to the cemetery and in Schorbach in Bitscher Land in a house with open, Romanesque-looking arcades in front of the west portal of the church.

Christian ossuaries are often dedicated to the Archangel Michael . They can have two storeys or were later extended. There is often a chapel in the upper room .

At the turn of the 20th century, ossuary became more and more out of use. Many were demolished or repurposed, some were used as memorials for those who died in the war, as morgues or storage sheds. In some of the monasteries in the city, the function of the ossuary has been preserved because of the limited space.

Ossuary in Asomatos , Crete
Doppelkarner in Pottenstein in Lower Austria

Ossuary can be found in cemeteries in many areas of Greece . There the bones are exhumed after a regionally different time (20 to 40 years) in a church rite and brought to the ossuary to make space for new burial sites.

Examples

Austria

The predominant name is Karner and sometimes ossuary .

Germany

Ossuary at the Minster in Bad Doberan
Ossuary at the Anna Chapel in Waischenfeld

The predominant name here except in Bavaria is ossuary .

Switzerland

Astano ossuary (1721)
Ossuary battle chapel Sempach

The name is mainly ossuary .

South-Tirol

In South Tyrol the terms Karner and Beinhaus , as well as the Italian-influenced Ossario, are used.

France

The French word for ossuary is ossuary .

Italy

In Italy the term ossario is common.

Greece

Portugal

Czech Republic

Mělník Ossuary, 1980

Bulgaria

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Max Döllner : History of the development of the city of Neustadt an der Aisch until 1933. 1950; 2nd edition, Ph. CW Schmidt, Neustadt an der Aisch 1978, ISBN 3-87707-013-2 , pp. 88 and 559, note 2.
  2. ↑ rdklabor: ossuary .
  3. ↑ Reiner Sörries: The medieval cemetery. In: Norbert Fischer (ed.): Space for the dead. The history of the cemeteries from the burial roads of Roman times to anonymous burials. 2003, ISBN 3-87815-174-8 , p. 38.
  4. ↑ Entry on The Hallstatt Bone House in the Austria Forum  (in the Heimatlexikon), accessed on January 4, 2011.
  5. ↑ Ilse Spielvogel-Bodo: The Ossiacher See between yesterday and today. History, art, regional studies. 2nd Edition. Kärntner Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Klagenfurt 1998, ISBN 3-85391-149-8 , p. 51.

literature

  • Wolfgang Westerhoff: Karner in Austria and South Tyrol. Lower Austrian Press House, St. Pölten / Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-85326-891-9 .
  • Reiner Sörries: On the architectural history of the Karner in Carinthia. In: cemetery and memorial. Year 38, 2/1993 Arbeitsgemeinschaft Friedhof und Denkmal Kassel, pp. 25–37.
  • Jörg Scheidt: The ossuary of Oppenheim. In: Oppenheimer Hefte. 40, Oppenheim 2011, pp. 17-41.

Web links

Commons : Ossuary  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: ossuary  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Ossarium  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Ossuary  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual Karner: