Thousands of human skulls and bones line the walls of a chapel - PHOTO

Standing outside the Kaplica Czaszek, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were at another quaint chapel in Poland.But a step inside reveals a chilling site. Thousands of human bones, ravaged by war and disease, are stacked on top in a macabre pattern.Located in the old town of Czermna, the chapel's walls and ceilings are made from the bones which are intended to be a reminder of mortality and human salvation in the face of death.The skulls and leg bones of over 3,000 victims are meticulously arranged over the ceilings and walls, while over 21,000 additional remains are hidden behind a trap door in a crypt below the church.The interior reveals a repetitive design of human bones laid out a thousand times as ‘a celebration of oneness’, according to design news site Beautiful Decay.The chapel was created after a local priest, named Vaclav Tomasek, visited shallow grave sites commemorating the fallen soldiers and civilians killed in the Silesian Wars and the Thirty Years’ War as well as those devastated by plagues and cholera.The Thirty Years' War, which took place in 1618–1648, was a series of wars fought mainly in Central Europe and one of the most destructive conflicts in European history.It was followed by the Silesian Wars in 18th-century which saw Austria and Prussia battle possession of Silesia, a historical region that is now in south-western Poland.After seeing the poignant reminder of those who had fallen, Mr Tomasek collected and cleaned skeletal remains, embedding them in the chapel walls between 1776 and 1804.On the church’s altar, Mr Tomasek placed the bones of important figures as well as more unusual bones disfigured by disease to elevate those who suffered in death.These included the skull of the local mayor, bullet-ridden skeletons, a skull deformed by syphilis and the bones of a rumoured giant.Mr Tomasek’s own skull was placed at the altar when he passed away in 1804.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az