Guanajuato is the most beautiful city in Mexico, but its main attraction has nothing to do with beauty. We are talking about the famous Museum of Mummies, which brings genuine terror to every visitor. The entrance here is prohibited for pregnant and lactating women, as well as for naturally impressionable tourists. The museum's exposition is represented by dozens of mummified bodies of people who left our world about 100-150 years ago.
History of the emergence of the Museum of mummies
The emergence of the famous museum began in the 19th century. At that time, the authorities of Guanajuato introduced a tax on burial, which meant one thing - from that moment on, the bodies of deceased people had to be buried not for the usual "thank you", but under certain conditions of a paid extension of their place in the cemetery.
Naturally, the dead could not pay for themselves, so their closest relatives had to do it. In those numerous cases, when relatives were not found, or they did not have money to pay, the bodies of the deceased were exhumed.
One can imagine how surprised the workers of the cemetery were when, instead of a pile of bones, they removed from the ground perfectly preserved mummies, many of which retained their hair, nails, teeth and clothes. Subsequently, this turned out to be associated with the unique climate and composition of the soil in Guanajuato - these factors, mainly, positively influenced the safety of bodies buried many decades ago.
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The law, according to which deceased relatives could be buried for a certain fee, was in force from 1865 to 1958. It was in this time interval that the "fund" of the future Museum of Mummies was formed - 111 perfectly preserved bodies were buried in the period from 1850 to 1950. According to some reports, they also included bodies whose owners died from a cholera epidemic in 1833.
The mummified bodies were kept in a building built next to the cemetery. Gradually, tourists began to visit it, paying the watchmen a few pesos to watch. This is how one of the most terrible museums in the world appeared.
Contemporary exposition of the museum
Now the exposition of the Museum of Mummies has 59 exhibits, including the bodies of children. On some of them there are tablets with the dates of burial and removal of the body from the coffin in the first person.
Visited the museum begin their chilling excursion from the corridor, on both sides of which there are almost identical dead people behind the glass. Each of them has well preserved hair, nails and clothes, in which the bodies were buried.
Further, more interesting exhibits are offered to the attention of tourists. Some of them are wearing leather jackets and other garments from the time.
Further, the excursion offers to examine the bodies peacefully lying in coffins. Some mummies surprise museum visitors with long plaited braids and well-preserved faces
One of the main attractions of the museum is the gallery called Angelitos, which houses exhibits of children's mummies. According to local tradition, before the funeral, children were dressed only in festive clothes. The costumes of saints were chosen for boys, and costumes of angels for girls. This was necessary in order for the sinless souls of children to quickly get to heaven.
Many tourists are shocked by a photograph installed on the walls of the same hall. It depicts relatives with an already dead baby. This long tradition of Mexicans to be photographed for memory with dead children dates back to the 17th century. Fortunately, now almost everyone has forgotten about her.
In the next room, visitors are presented with the mummy of a woman who at the time of her death was in a late pregnancy. Next to her stands the body of her unborn baby - this is the smallest mummy in the world.
Further, according to the scenario, tourists are taken to the hall of mummies, the owners of which died an unnatural death. Some of them died from traumatic brain injury or drowning. There is also a mummy, whose owner was buried alive - the woman simply fell into a lethargic sleep, after which she was buried. The terrible mistake of her relatives is proved by the position of the mummy's hands - it can be seen that she tried to get out of the coffin, but it was already too late.
The Mummy Museum in Guanajuato is definitely not a place for the faint of heart. The atmosphere is so gloomy within its walls that sometimes you just want to give up the excursion and quickly leave this frightening place. And the point here is not even in the original thematic lighting or furniture, but in exhibits that can scare even people with the most stable psyche …