Capuchin Catacombs

Capuchin Catacombs - Christian monument necrophilia ... Not just a "museum of the dead", as the personification of the Sicilian cult of death ... In the vast cellars of the Capuchin monastery billed about 8,000 bodies, most of which belong to the local elite and prominent citizens of the past - the priesthood, the aristocracy and members of other professions of honor ...
The practice of mummification in Sicily emerged at the end of the XVI century, when the local Capuchin fathers found that in the catacombs beneath their monastery contains a mysterious preservative, naturally retaining rotting corpse ...





The first burial is dated 1599 ...



This is the power of the local priest Silvestro with a distinct righteousness ...



However, over time mummification became fashionable, and the desire to be buried in such a non-traditional way of Christianity, many residents expressed ...



In the catacombs of Palermo represented all of the past - men and women, children ...



Couples - like in genre scenes ...



Some wills pointed clothes that are willing to be exposed ...



On most festive attire.



An officer - uniforms as the French koronёre Ainis Giuliano Di (Enea Di Giuliano), who died in 1948 ...



On the "pro" - insignia and elusive plaque profession ...



This - the ambassador of Sicily in the United States, who died in 1912 ...



And this - the artist's brother ...



Special attention is paid to the clergy ...



The most famous inhabitant of the museum and beautiful Rosalia Lombardo - "Sleeping Beauty", buried in the catacombs of the latter in 1920 ... amazingly preserved body allowed to argue that the girl Rosalia is not really dead, just sleeping ...



It is said that the doctor who prepared the body died, never having given 300-year-old secret embalming ...



via nash_nik