The chapel was built in 1776 by Bohemian local parish priest Václav Tomášek. It is the mass grave of people who died during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), three Silesian Wars (1740–1763), and people who died because of cholera epidemics, plague, syphilis, and hunger.[1][2]

Together with sacristan J. Schmidt and grave digger J. Langer, father Tomášek who was inspired by the Capuchin cemetery while on a pilgrimage to Rome,[3] collected the casualties’ bones, cleaned and put them in the chapel within 18 years (from 1776 to 1794). Walls of this small, baroque church are filled with three thousand skulls, and there are also bones of another 21 thousand people interred in the basement. The skulls of people who built the chapel, including Tomášek, were placed in the center of the building and on the altar in 1804. Inside are a crucifix and two carvings of angels with Latin inscriptions that read "arise from the dead" and "come to judgment".[4] A recording inside the church available in three languages (Polish, Czech and German) explains the history of the chapel.[5]

After World War II ended in 1945, a group of volunteers dedicated themselves to restoring the chapel to its former glory. Their efforts paid off, and the Skull Chapel was soon successfully restored.[6]