The Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Sicily

If you go to Sicily you can’t miss the capuchin catacombs of Palermo, something that confirms the ghoulish side of this city. A cemetery that contains 8000 mummies, lined upon walls, lying or standing, skeletons, and perfectly preserved bodies. It was active until 1920, when the last body was interred. And hooray! This is actually my first Lomo location in Sicily

The capuchin catacombs of Palermo is a very strange kind of cemetery. Built in the 17th century, at the beginning they accepted only capuchin friars of the capuchin monastery. Later on, people who could afford to be buried there were accepted in this cemetery as well. There are more than 8000 mummies lined on the walls. Before they were shown, bodies were dried or in some cases embalmed, like the body of two-year-old Rosalia Lombardo who died in 1920 that is perfectly preserved.

The cemetery is open to the public, people are not allowed to take photographs but friars sell postcards that retract the mummies. This is a strange place, in some ways ghoulish but for me this was not unheimlich.

2011-03-10 #places #cemetery #palermo #lc-a #landmark #eerie #bodies #churchyard #location #sicily #italy #xpro #fuji-sensia-200 #skeletons #mummies #goulish icomewhenieatcaponata の記事