Catacomb and Mummy Museum - Collection of Bodies and Bones (Remains Series 2)

CATACOMBS AND MUMMY MUSEUM – COLLECTION OF BODIES AND BONES (REMAINS SERIES 2)

Continued from Chapel and Churches – Collection of Bodies and Bones (Remains series 1)

From chapels and churches of Sedlec Ossuary - Kutna Hora, Czech Republic, Chapel of Bones - Evora, Portugal, and the St. Michan's Church - Dublin, Ireland now we come to the Capuchin Catacomb of Sicily and the Mummy Museum of Mexico where enormous collection of bodies and bones are display.

Capuchin Catacombs - Palermo, Sicily

Over 350 years ago, the Capuchin monks of Palermo discovered that bodies buried in their catacombs remained remarkably well preserved. Word soon got out, and everyone who was anyone asked to be buried in their Sunday best in these catacombs. Today, visitors can view over 8,000 mummies in various stages of creepy decay or preservation.

For visitors to Palermo who enjoy the macabre and/or bizarre, the Catacombe dei Cappuccini (Catacombs of the Capuchins) are a must-see. Like most displays of human remains, a visit to the mummies can lead to reflection on the meaning of death. But it goes without saying that this "human library" of thousands of bodies is not for the faint-heart or weak-stomached!

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History

In 1599, Capuchin monks discovered that their catacombs contained a mysterious preservative that helped mummify the dead. As a result, more than 8,000 Sicilians from all walks of life chose to be buried here.

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The corpses range in date from the late 1500s to 1920 and most were embalmed before their display. Giuseppe Tommasi, prince of Lampedusa and author of the famous Sicilian work "The Leopard", was buried in the cemetery next to the catacombs in 1957.

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In the 1940s, Allied bombs hit the monastery, destroying many of the mummies. The Capuchin Monastery (Convento dei Cappuccini) itself was rebuilt over the remains of the original medieval church in 1623 and was once again restored in the early 20th century.

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Visitors can wander through the catacombs' dank corridors among the mummified bodies. The halls are divided into categories that include: Men, Women, Virgins, Children, Priests, Monks, and Professors (including the famous painter Velasquez).

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The corpses are dressed in splendid clothes, now somewhat decayed, and occupy their own individual niches according to their social status. Many of the deceased wrote wills that specified the clothes in which to bury them, and some even asked to have their clothes changed over a period of time.

Many corpses are still remarkably preserved and some give the impression of enjoying a joke with their deceased friends. Others are not in such good shape, with horribly contorted, creepy faces and missing parts like jaws and hands.

The last corpse to be buried here was that of 2-year-old Rosalia Lombaro, who died in 1920. She is so well-preserved, she has been nicknamed "Sleeping Beauty."

Mummy Museum - Guanajuato, Mexico

Unlike the otherwise similar site in Sicily, the deceased inhabitants of this museum are not here by choice. In fact, the poor corpses are on display for any curious visitor to see because they (well, their relatives) failed to pay the rent on their burial plot. It is unknown why the dead who have been placed in this museum are mummified – scientists have thus far been unable to explain the phenomenon.

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The Museo de las Momias in the little province of Guanajuato in Mexico is full of the exhumed, mummified bodies of unfortunate locals who could no longer pay their graveyard rent.

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History

Because of a unique law that is in force in this part of Mexico, graves in the local cemetery have to either be bought for an exorbitant amount or rented every five years. If the deceased's family fails to pay the rent, the body is exhumed and disposed of to make way for new arrivals.

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Through some mysterious process that scientists have not been able to explain, a small proportion of the bodies from this graveyard end up naturally mummified.

Rather than being destroyed by the local authorities, these bodies are put in the macabre Museo de las Momias. Here they join a vast "human library," poised in all possible postures of death, that has been accumulating since the museum was founded in 1865.

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Myth and Mystery

It is not only the death fetish of the Mexican imagination that has kept this museum going (there can be an eerie, almost carnivalesque atmosphere among the visitors lined up outside). The main draw is the air of supernatural mystery about the whole phenomenon.

Scientists from as far away as Tokyo have analyzed the bodies trying to find an explanation, but no one has so far succeeded in understanding why five or six exhumed bodies every year have turned into mummies.

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Some speculate that the minerals in the soil are the cause, while others suspect divine punishment for crimes committed in life - the bodies seem condemned to a perpetually moribund half-life of paralyzed torment.

REFERENCE

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/sacred-sites/dead-on-display.htm

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