In Sicily, where the relationship between the living and the dead has
always been strong, the city of Palermo hosts one of the world's more
bizarre and morbid tourist attractions. Through the doors of the
Capuchin Monastery, which looks like any other building from the
outside, visitors can descend into the large Capuchin catacombs.
Pinned
to the walls, sitting on benches and shelves and tucked away in open
coffins are nearly 8,000 corpses, each one dressed in their Sunday best.
In Western culture, the long dead are generally kept out of sight,
hidden from the living. Here, it is exactly the opposite. Nothing stands
between the living and dead, except maybe a rope with a sign asking
visitors to be respectful.
The ill-lit, musty catacombs have been
separated into a few corridors, each one hosting a specific type of
person. There is a room for religious figures, mainly those affiliated
with the monastery, for professionals, such as doctors, and a room for
women, virgins and infants. The oldest corpse in the macabre collection
is that of Silvestro da Gubbio, a friar who passed in 1599.
It is
believed that the particularly dry atmosphere allowed for the natural
mummification of the bodies. Initially, priests would lay the dead on
shelves and allow them to drip until they were completely depleted of
bodily fluids. A full year later, the dried out corpse would be rinsed
with vinegar before being re-dressed in their best attire and sent to
their proper room, to stand for eternity.
