Karner Coat of Arms

An artist drew the Karner Coat of Arms from information officially recorded in ancient heraldic archives. Heraldic artists of old, developed their own unique language to describe an individual Coat of Arms. In their language the arms shield reads:

 “Durch eine bis zum obern Schildesrande reichende B. Spitze, worin auf gr. Boden ein r. gewaffneter Storch, welcher eine sich mehrfach Krummende gr. Schlange im Schnabel halt, gespalten von S. und R.; vorne u. hinten drei (2.1) Rosen in verwechselten Farben. 

Translation: A blue triangle drawn from the middle upper third to the lower corners of the shield, charged with a green ground placed on the base; standing on it, a red stork holding in her beak a green worm wriggled several times on itself; two side shapes, silver and red; each one charged with three roses placed over one, countercharged.”  Above the shield and helmet is the Crest, which is described as the Stork.

 Individual surnames originated for the purpose of more specific identification. The four primary sources for names were: occupation, location, father’s name and personal characteristics. The surname Karner appears to be occupational in origin, and is believed to be associated with the “Keeper of the Bones”.

Karner – A Celtic Tribe

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon  1885-1892

This old Swiss encyclopaedia reads...

English Translation: Karner (Carni) A tribe belonging to the Alps and Danube Celts, which lived to the south of the Gail and Drau in the Karner alps, countries now known as Krain, Kärnten and Friaul.

The Gail and Drau are small rivers in Austria - Österreich.

Karner - Ossuary

Beinhaus - Bone house - Carnary - Carnarium - Charnel house – Crypt -  Ossarium

Roman Karner - Mauthausen Austria

 From Wikipedia: Ossuary:  a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains.

Many examples of ossuaries are found within Europe such as the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome, Italy, the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, and Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of bones) in the city of Évora, in Portugal. A more recent example is the Douaumont ossuary in France that contains the remains of more than 130,000 French and German soldiers that fell at the Battle of Verdun during World War I.

In Persia, the Zoroastrians used a deep well for this function from the earliest times (c. 3,000 years ago) and called it astudan (literally, "the place for the bones").

In the New World, a structure commonly seen in some Native American societies of the Eastern United States was called a Charnel. Major examples would be the Hopewell cultures and Mississippian cultures.

Karner - Bone House

 In the Alps, ossuaries were known as "Karner" and date to Roman times.

Carnuntum, a Roman complex near Petronell Austria, was the place where Emperor Marcus Aurelius centred his campaign against the Germanic tribes at the end of the second century. Carnuntum was a metropolis stretching along the south side of the Danube River for 2 kilometres near present day Hungary.

This monument was erected at Carnuntum under the reign of Emperor Constantius II between 337 - 361 A.D.

One of the many buildings at Carnuntum was a Karner.

 Second definition from: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon 1885-1892

English Translation: Karner (Kerner, Gerner, mittellat.carnarium), A building, mainly found on Austrian cemeteries, of Roman period, usually in shape of a round or polygon tower. The basement was used for the storage of bones and the upper rooms as a chapel and occasional meat or smoking room.

Glossary of St. Marienkirche in Wismar Germany: Karner: (lat. carnarium) Beinhaus, eine in der Regel zweigeschossige Friedhofskapelle. Im Untergeschoss lagerten ausgegrabene Gebeine, im Obergeschoss befindet sich ein Altarraum für Totenmessen.

 English Translation:  Karner: (lat. carnarium) Bone house, double story cemetery chapel. The basement used as a storage for exhumed bones, an the top floor as an alter room for funeral ceremonies.

In each instance, the Latin name for Karner is carnarium.

The Oxford Dictionary describes a Carnarium as a place where bones were kept, where as Webster states it is a building where bodies or bones were deposited.

The Hartberg Karner

The Hartberg Karner is one of the most important late Roman buildings of it's type. It's located directly next to the town-mass-church of Hartberg, in the Steiermark Region.

The Hartberg  Karner dates to the second half of the 12th Century. It is a double story building with a 3/4 apses, which is covered with a cone shaped roof.

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Kristofer Karner at Hartberg Karner

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This Karner was heavily renovated between 1889 and 1894. The stairs were added and the internal 12th Century, frescos were revealed and completed. 

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Kristofer Karner at the Hartberg Karner

 

 

Sadly, the original color scheme was destroyed and the design was not in it's original form completed (the hell fire as an example).

 

 

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The allegoric depiction of the seven deadly sins is the oldest fresco image of its kind.

 

 

 Karner

 

 

 

Translation: 12th Century - 1167 Roman built Karner. Periodic baptism chapel.

Dedicated to Saint Michael and the holy Bishop Ulrich.

 

KARNER - A Family Name

Karner is not a common surname outside of a particular region found in and around Austria, the area where bone houses or ossuary's are referred to as "Karner". The rarity of the name is  further enlarged by the fact that not many people handled bones.

Early Germanic names were associated with trades, professions, or occupations. The surname Karner came from the occupation or trade of handling bones, or being in proximity thereof, just as a farmer became a “Bauer”; a tailor became a “Schneider” or a merchant became a “Kaufmann”.   Records kept by a genealogical organization describe “Karner” as one who drove a cart, a carter, dweller near a charnel house. 

St. Michael in Bad Doberan Germany

Wikipedia describes a Charnel house as:  a vault or building where corpses and/or bones are stored. They are often built near churches for depositing bones that are unearthed while digging graves.

So why build a Karner?

The use of a Karner was necessary because many crowded medieval cemeteries were used again and again. Each new burial unearthed the bones of people long dead.

Naters Switzerland

In the Alps, where ground suitable for burial was scarce, corpses would be allotted a certain period of temporary interment near the church. This enabled the remains to later be collected so that the ground could be re-used for further burials. Typically this occurred in rocky or arid places.

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 1885-1892 encyclopedia affirms;

English Translation: Bone house; Small building at cemeteries for the storage of exhumed bones, especially in mountain regions, were there is no space for the expansion of cemeteries. It's quite normal, in such buildings, to find skulls and leg bones exhibited on the walls Memento Mori. Very often these buildings house altars for the death mass.

Hallstatter Beinhaus - Austria

Kristofer Karner at the Hallstatter Karner

The Hallstatter "Karner" dates to the 12th century and holds 1200 skulls.

Note that this graveyard is restricted to limited space without room to expand. Graves were opened. Skulls and larger bones were removed for placement into the Karner, making way for further burials.

English Translation: World  famous Karner , decorated with exhumed bones since 1600. After a 10-20 year burial the graves were opened, the bones cleaned, the skulls bleached, numbered, registered and painted.

At the moment there are 1200 skulls in this bone house. They have all been scientifically viewed, measured and newly sorted by the University Professor Dr. Mag. Gustiav Saufer of the Innsbruck University.

A lot of families rest for generations in this bone house - a piece of Christian Hallstatter history.

Large femur, humerus and tibia bones support the skulls.

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A skull was cleaned, then bleached by the sun until all signs of decay had disappeared, which left a mild ivory color.

From 1720 a tradition of painting skulls developed as a sign of love. The Hallstatter Karner contains six hundred and ten skulls, the latest added in 1995.

A person’s family name and the date of death was mentioned. A cross was usually drawn and sometimes roses. Oak leaves represented glory and a laurel meant victory. Ivy was painted as the symbol of life, whereas a snake represented death. In this way the colors of flowers which once adorned the graveyard, were duplicated in the "Karner.

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It is no longer necessary to remove bones from the cemetery at Hallstatter, as the number of cremations has increased sharply. Nevertheless, you are still entitled to make a personal testament to be added to the Karner after death.

In 1995. a woman was added to the Karner, who had died in 1983. It was her wish to be placed here. A gold tooth remains attached to her skull.  

No room at the Inn ?

What happens when a Karner is full?

The Ossuary at Sedlec

Many of the photographs to follow were taken by Frisco Ramirez in 2004.

Visit his link below to learn and see more, or enquire of larger images.

Sedlec is situated in present day Czech Republic. Long ago it was a busy commercial hub due to the immense silver findings in the vicinity, providing most of the silver for coinage circulating in Europe. In 1142, a Cistercian monastery was founded nearby.

In 1278, King Otakar II of Bohemia sent the abbot of Sedlec on a diplomatic mission to the Holy Land. On his return he scattered an amount of earth he had brought back from Palestine around the Sedlec cemetery. These grounds were immediately considered “holy land”.

People came from all over central Europe, particularly when they felt their health was diminishing, so as to be laid to rest on sacred ground. Many others brought their dead relatives or friends, believing that the holiness of the ground was a sure way to guarantee them a place in heaven.

Cemetery numbers grew. Bubonic plague spread across Europe in 1318, which added an additional 30,000 corpses.

Two Jolly Rodger's surmount the pillars.

Sometime after 1400, All Saints Chapel was built in the centre of the cemetery.

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In 1511, bones were gathered from the cemetery, making way for more Christians to be buried on holy ground. These bones were placed in the basement of the chapel, which became the Ossuary or Karner.

Soon these extra places were taken up by victims of the 15th century Hussite Wars. By the 19^th century storage space in the Karner had become a problem. Many tens of thousands of corpses were stored there.

 

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In 1870, local artist František Rint, was employed by the Prince of Shwartzenberg. He was tasked with the decoration of the inner chapel.

 

 

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The remains of over 40,000 humans were placed at his disposal.

 

 

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Walls and archways were decorated while fantastic objects were created.

 

 

 

 

One of the most interesting creations by master Rint was the chandelier in the centre of the nave, containing all the bones of the human body and more.

 

 

   

 

Another fascinating creation was the Shwartzenberg Coat of Arms

 

 

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Note the facsimile of the detailed bird within the work.

 

 

 

 

Master František Rint signed his work in bones (above).

 

Scroll down for a link to more images and information on the Ossuary at Sedlec.

 

Memento mori

Philippe de Champaigne's Vanitas (c. 1671)

Remember you are mortal!

The Crypt at Cappuccini

A plaque in the chapel reads: "What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be..."

A crypt or Karner of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor Capuchin,  is located under Santa Maria della Concezione in Rome Italy. In 1631 Cardinal Antonio Barberin ordered the remains of thousands of Capuchin friars exhumed and transferred from Via dei Lucchesi friary to the crypt. Five underground chapels contain the remains of 4000 friars who died between 1500 and 1870. They include the Crypt of Skulls, the Crypt of Pelvises, the Crypt of Leg Bones, the Crypt of Thigh Bones and  the Crypt of Three Skeletons. (above)

Some of the skeletons are intact and draped with Franciscan habits, but mostly individual bones were nailed to the walls and used to create funeral art as at Sedlec. In a like fashion, bones were used to create chandeliers and soil was brought from the holy land. (Jerusalem) The key to understanding the display stems from the Christian belief in everlasting life and the resurrection of the body.

Monks would come to pray and reflect each evening before retiring. They also buried their dead. (foreground)

Remember: "What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be..."

Hans Memling - Triptych of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation (front) (c.1485)

Memento mori: Latin phrase which may be freely translated as "Remember that you are mortal," "Remember you will die," or "Remember your death". It names a genre of artistic creations that vary widely from one another, but which all share the same purpose, which is to remind people of their own mortality.

Remember your death!

         Dance of Death - Michael Wolgemut 1434 -1519                             Calavera de la Catrina  - José Guadalupe Posada's

Capuchin Catacombs - Monks Corridor - Palermo  Italy

                                                               memento mori

Left: A death head wearing the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, on tomb of Habsburg emperor Charles VI - Capuchin church - Vienna Austria.
 

        Remember you will die!