Bone House or Bone Room, Oppenheim Ossuary in Germany

Michaelskapelle mit Beinhaus: Gebeine von etwa 2000 Oppenheimer Burgern aus den Jahren 1400 bis 1750

Oppenheim am Rhein
Michaelskapelle mit Beinhaus an der Katharinenkirche

Translation from German:

Michael chapel with an ossuary: bones of about 2000 Oppenheim citizens from the years 1400 to 1750

Oppenheim on the Rhein River
Michael chapel with an ossuary at St. Catherine's Church

postmarked in 2013 with two Germany stamps

- - - - - - -

An ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary. The greatly reduced space taken up by an ossuary means that it is possible to store the remains of many more people in a single tomb than if the original coffins were left as is.