Brno holds probably the second largest ossuary in Europe (after the catacombs in Paris). Under the church of St. James there were stored the remains of more than fifty thousand skeletons which originated from the church in Petrov, dissolved in 1784. This cemetery was used for burials from the 13th century and many deaths from plague and cholera epidemics were buried here. After transferring the skeletal remains to the church crypt, the ossuary was closed and virtually forgotten over the years. It was accidentally rediscovered in 2001 during a survey of Brno's underground. The ossuary was opened to the public in 2012.