The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo (also Catacombe dei Cappuccini or Catacombs of the Capuchins) are burial catacombs in Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. Today they provide a somewhat macabre tourist attraction as well as an extraordinary historical record.
Palermo's Capuchin monastery outgrew its original cemetery in the 16th century and monks begun to excavate crypts below it. In 1599 they mummified one of their number, recently-dead brother Silvestro of Gubbio, and placed him into the catacombs.
The bodies were dehydrated on the racks of ceramic pipes in the catacombs and sometimes later washed with vinegar. Some of the bodies were embalmed and others enclosed in sealed glass cabinets. Monks were preserved with their everyday clothing and sometimes with ropes they had worn as a penance.
Originally the catacombs were intended only for the dead friars. However, in the following centuries it became a status symbol to be entombed into the capuchin catacombs. In their wills, local luminaries would ask to be preserved in certain clothes, or even to have their clothes changed at regular intervals. Priests wore their clerical vestments, others were clothed according to the contemporary fashion. Relatives would visit to pray for the deceased and also to maintain the body in presentable condition. The catacombs were maintained through the donations of the relatives of the deceased. Each new body was placed in a temporary niche and later placed into a more permanent place. As long as the contributions continued, the body remained in its proper place but when the relatives did not send money any more, the body was put aside on a shelf until they continued to pay.
[img]http://www.melissaomarkham.com/images/beautymummy012709.jpg[/img]
Rosalia Lombardo was an Italian child born in 1918 in Palermo, Sicily. She died on December 6 1920. It is thought that she died from a case of pneumonia. Rosalia's father was sorely grieved upon her death that he approached Dr. Alfredo Salafia, a noted embalmer, to preserve her. [1]She was one of the last corpses to be admitted to the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo in Sicily.
[b]media tag because it contains picture of human remains[/b]
[media]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/New_Corridor.jpg[/media]
[media]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Monks%27_Corridor.jpg[/media]
[media]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Women%27s_Corridor.jpg[/media]
[media]http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05_01/023Catacombs_800x533.jpg[/media]
[media]http://badcontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/catacomb-death-1.jpg[/media]
[media]http://badcontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/catacomb-death-6.jpg[/media]
[media]http://badcontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/catacomb-death-2.jpg[/media]
This is a video with the Catacombs in.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09pXl5KRpYM&feature=related[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-tZC51onOo&feature=related[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-9iqq7ydOI[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE2IYxPhyc8[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IIo9Nscti8[/media]
If I was to visit this place I don't think I would be freaked out by the remains but mainly by the fact that they should be buried instead of being on display. It makes you think of what this must of been like to visit while it was an active catacombs.
Has anyone actually visited this place and if so what was your experience like? If not would you actually visit this place or would you be too freaked out ?
Badcontrol.com
But seriously its really interesting.
I was in Palermo last March.
I saw a part of the catacombs.
They didn't have anything like this, of course.
ANd I think it is just not right to display it for everybody to watch. it's respectless.
Also my grand-grandfather is buried in Sicily, died during a British Bomb attack.
Thriller
does anyone know whether there are any active catacombs still running.
[QUOTE=Jewels;17193483]does anyone know whether there are any active catacombs still running.[/QUOTE]
Cementries in the mountain regions of Sicily are still built over the soil. They Build them on top of each other, it looks like miniature apartment buildings, only for dead people.
They are also very artistic sometimes.
Does that count?
yeah I would say so because I have come to the conclusion how did they get past the methane problem
[QUOTE=Jewels;17193520]yeah I would say so because I have come to the conclusion how did they get past the methane problem[/QUOTE]
They had fun...
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Lighting-match.gif[/img]
Not quite as insane as the Sedlec Ossuary.
[media]http://filesmelt.com/downloader/502349949qUSXgh_fs.jpg[/media]
If I ever become ruler of Earth, this will be the location of my throne. (which will also be adorned with human skulls)
Alright you know what this is just fucked up.
That place is so metal...
I feel like this one is staring into my soul.
[media]http://imgkk.com/i/yn1eBW.png[/media]
...nice
This was really interesting. I would love to visit that place.
[QUOTE=FunkyHippo;17194315]Alright you know what this is just fucked up.[/QUOTE]
Sounds strange coming from you.
freaky
I like skelektons. They're always smiling.
Aye I remember seeing it on 'Ghost Hunting with Paul O'Grady' (which you helpfully posted in the OP) and it freaked the shit out of me. I mean 'Ghost Hunting with...' is usually funny as hell but that one was freaky as hell, especially with all the random Night vision images they did.
This wasn't in [i]Day of Defeat[/i]!
:O
I wanna be a ghostbuster now for some reason.
Creepy yet totally awesome.
I want to visit this place.
[media]http://i29.tinypic.com/2drw581.png[/media]
Excuse my disrespect for the dead...
(Maybe if they were burried this wouldn't happen)
[QUOTE=Imaledgev2;17196312][media]http://i29.tinypic.com/2drw581.png[/media]
Excuse my disrespect for the dead...
(Maybe if they were burried this wouldn't happen)[/QUOTE]
well that actually gave me a good laugh
[editline]10:48AM[/editline]
Also I just noticed the "jenga tower" :v:
I should go to one of these things in italy once. It sounds pretty interesting.
A very humerus collection of bones in the above pic. (pun intended)
The picture of the girl is scaring me like hell, I thought it was a real person but then the video said it was preserved. :S
[editline]09:54AM[/editline]
That's just fucked up!!
I thought at first the thread title said "The Cappuccino Catacombs of Palermo".
I was picturing some kind of touristy catacombs, with a coffeeshop where you can drink your coffee out of mugs shaped like human skulls.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;17194306]Not quite as insane as the Sedlec Ossuary.
[media]http://filesmelt.com/downloader/502349949qUSXgh_fs.jpg[/media]
If I ever become ruler of Earth, this will be the location of my throne. (which will also be adorned with human skulls)[/QUOTE]
I want to go there.
Like, right now.
Humanity is fucked up.
[QUOTE=RAWRrrr;17208244]Humanity is fucked up.[/QUOTE]
not humanity, just the italian christian church people are :eng101:
[QUOTE=Imaledgev2;17196312][media]http://i29.tinypic.com/2drw581.png[/media]
Excuse my disrespect for the dead...
(Maybe if they were burried this wouldn't happen)[/QUOTE]
Hahahaha, rated funny.
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