Beinhaus (Charnel House)

The Beinhaus, or bone house, sits in a small chapel beside the parish church at the top of the village, and is one of the strangest and most affecting sights in Austria. It holds the painted skulls and stacked long bones of more than 1,200 villagers, exhumed from the cemetery over five centuries because the rocky lakeside site offered no room to expand.

Around 600 of the skulls carry painted decoration — names, dates, and floral motifs — most of them done between 1720 and the 1930s. The chapel is small and quiet; an attendant takes a small donation at the door. Combine the visit with the parish church next door, the small graveyard outside (still in use), and the views over the rooftops down to the lake. Open daily; closed in deepest winter.

things to do sight
A story
When a grave was reopened — typically after 10 to 15 years — the bones were exhumed, sun-bleached on the cemetery walls, and the skull was decorated with the deceased's name, date of death, and a wreath of oak leaves, ivy, or roses, painted by a member of the family. The youngest skull was painted in 1995, of a woman who died in 1983 and had specifically requested the tradition continue.

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