Sicily: Palermo Catacombs
Photo taken from lundbooks.co.uk
The Palermo Catacombs is in Palermo, Italy, and contains thousands of corpses dating back from 1599, lined up around the walls like an artist’s painting. It all started in 1599, when a monk was put up for the people to pray to him after his death. Soon hundreds of people started to follow because they wanted the same thing for their loved ones. There are also many coffins there, some cut on the side so one can view the corpse. The last person to be placed in the catacombs was Rosalia Lombardo in 1920.
Some of the corpses still have the clothes from their time-periods, while others are mummified and still have some of their skin, eyes, and hair. Over time, as you can imagine, corpses lose limbs and other body parts which gives it a real eery feeling. Also, the mouths are opened as well, which makes it look like the corpses are screaming. There was a specific method of embalming to make these corpses mummified and to keep a specific look that isn’t seen in many places on earth.
The Catacombs are divided into halls. The halls are: Men, Women, Virgins, Children, Priests, Monks, and Professionals. This is very interesting to me because even when dead, society still separates those into their own “groups”. After reading about the Catacombs, I have concluded that this place must be one of the creepiest places on earth. Where else in the world can you find thousands of mummified corpses all around the ceilings and walls like a work of art? Also, the corpses have been known to change position without any human contact on occasion.
So go on and take a trip down to the Catacombs of Palermo and see for yourself if the corpses change positions as you walk past them.
Works Cited/Further Reading
http://members.tripod.com/Motomom/index-3.htm
