St. Michael Chapel

The St. Michael Chapel stands directly beside St. Elisabeth Cathedral on Hlavná ulica, a small Gothic structure that provides a striking foreground view to the larger cathedral behind it. It dates from the 14th century and was built in the late Gothic style, with a decorated exterior and a simple interior that is now used occasionally for small concerts and art exhibitions.

The chapel's compact scale and delicate Gothic details make it an interesting contrast to the monumental cathedral beside it. It is free to enter when open. The pairing of the chapel and the cathedral — along with the State Theatre immediately across the promenade — creates the best single sequence of architectural views in Košice.

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A story
The chapel was originally built in the 14th century as a charnel house — a repository for bones exhumed from the overcrowded cathedral cemetery. The bones of the dead were stored in the lower ossuary to make room for new burials above, a common medieval practice in cities where burial space was at a premium. The upper chapel served as a place for masses for the dead. The lower ossuary still exists below street level and can sometimes be visited as part of guided tours of the cathedral complex.

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