BLAG 01 - Magazine - Page 36
Lettering Location
AUSTRIA
Hallstatt’s Charnel House
A
lull in tourist numbers due to the
pandemic provided the perfect
opportunity to visit the hand-painted
skulls in the Central Austrian village of Hallstatt.
The houses in the village, located in the
Salzkammergut region, huddle close together
along the narrow strip of shoreline between
Lake Hallstatt and a steep mountain slope. The
area’s rich salt deposits have been exploited by
mining since 1500BC, and the village became
a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
In recent years, the village’s population of 750
has been flooded with tourists, numbering
900,000 per year. A replica village opened
in Hong Kong in 2012, adding further
numbers of Chinese visitors wanting to
see the original in its picturesque location.
However, during the pandemic things were
36
empty, so I ventured there in May 2020 to
see the sights in calmer conditions.
Land in Hallstatt is at a premium due to the
encircling mountains, which applies equally to
the cemetery that surrounds the Catholic church.
This has resulted in local regulations that allow
graves to be dug up and re-used when required,
with the earlier remains given a second ‘burial’
at the nearby charnel house—a vault or building
used to keep human skeletal remains.
The process involves exhuming the bones,
which are then bleached and decorated. These
hand-painted skulls preserve the identity of the
deceased, and often include other details and
adornments. This hasn’t been done often in
recent times but, over the years, the collection
has grown to 610 painted skulls in the charnel
house. Entire generations of families can be
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