Rosaline's mummy. For a long time, local residents believed that it was a doll.
The real city of the dead was discovered in the catacombs under the Capuchin monastery in Palermo
2000 inhabitants of this terrible place look at their guests with empty eye sockets of skulls: more than five centuries ago, the dungeon of the ancient monastery was turned into a tomb for the inhabitants of the Italian city.
The most recent burial in the catacombs dates back to 1920. Rosalina, a two-year-old girl who died of a bronchial infection, found her last refuge there. Despite the fact that more than 90 years have passed since the death of the blonde baby, the girl looks like she recently fell asleep. The masters of mummification managed to save the child's body from decay. The rest of the corpses were not perfectly preserved: some had a nose or part of a cheek, others had a clump of thin, semi-rotten hair. The oldest mummy in the catacombs is 410 years old.
In the late 1590s, Italian priests accidentally discovered that the soil and air in the Capuchin Catacombs prevented the decomposition of the body. After an unexpected discovery, the monks began to embalm the bodies of the dead. The deceased was placed in a special chamber and dried for seven to eight months. Then the remains were washed with vinegar, dressed and buried - put in open coffins, hung on the walls or laid on shelves. The catacombs are divided into corridors for monks, men, women and "professionals" - doctors, lawyers and teachers.
The most ancient "exhibit" is the body of Silvestro of Gubbio - the man died in 1599. And the most "successful" - the mummy of Rosalina. The study of ancient mummies will allow scientists to learn a lot about diseases, diet and life expectancy of people in the past centuries.