About this place
Reached by a steep stairway climbing from the village, the Catholic parish church of Maria am Berg sits among the graves on a ledge of rock above Lake Hallstatt. The present late Gothic building was finished by 1505 and shelters a remarkable pentaptych winged altarpiece carved by Leonhard Astl of Gmunden, who labored on it for some fifteen years; its central shrine shows the Virgin and Child flanked by Saint Catherine, patron of woodcutters, and Saint Barbara, patron of miners. Beside the church stands St. Michael's Chapel, whose lower level holds the Beinhaus, or bone house. For centuries the cliffside cemetery had almost no room, so after a decade or more in the ground the dead were exhumed, their bones cleaned and bleached in the sun, and their skulls set into the chapel. From 1720 families began painting these skulls with names, dates and gentle symbols, oak leaves for strength, ivy for everlasting life, roses and crosses for hope, so that each person would still be remembered even without a grave. It is a tender, unsettling place that deserves a quiet and respectful visit.
Key facts
- 1505 year — The late Gothic church of Maria am Berg was completed by this year
- 610 painted skulls — Decorated with names, dates and floral symbols among roughly 1,200 skulls in total
- 1720 year — The tradition of painting and dating the skulls began here
📍 Landungsplatz, 4830, Hallstatt