This is one of the greatest curiosities of the lands around Klodzko, a sensation not only in Poland but also on a European scale. The chapel built from human sculls is the only building of this kind in Poland and one of three in Europe. In Czermna the square Baroque chapel is located between the Church of St. Bartlomiej and a free-standing bell tower.

The building is not large but draws attention with something unusual – the walls and ceiling inside the chapel are covered with around 3000 tightly packed human sculls and bones, victims of wars or infectious diseases. A further 20,000 – 30,000 fragments lie in the crypt under the chapel. On the main wall is a small altar with a Baroque crucifix.

Among the tibia and sculls stacked in layers along the walls of the chapel are two wooden carvings of angels, one with a trumpet and the Latin inscription “Arise from the Dead”, the second with a set of scales and the Latin inscription “Go before the Court”. The building of the chapel was funded in 1776 by the local priest Father Waclaw Tomaszek. During a pilgrimage to Rome he was inspired by the Capuchin cemetery next to the church of Santa Maria Della Conzezione. Here there are five chapels adorned with sculls or bones.

Chapel of Sculls in Kudowa Zdroj (woj. Dolnoslaskie)

www.czermna.pl