Wednesday, July 4, 2007

The Mummies of Vác (18th Century, Hungary)







From the excellent guidebook Weird Europe:
In 1994, workmen renovating a church stumbled upon a 18th-century burial crypt containing over 160 bodies, all naturally mummified in their pretty coffins...The mummies...are dressed as they were at their funerals 200 years ago in woolen socks, bonnets, and ruffled white gowns with flowing ribbons. Their eyes are sunken but otherwise they appear peaceful and newly dead, like a more relaxed version of Pompeii.
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see and photograph (see above) these mummies when they were being exhibited at the Budapest Museum of Natural History.

3 comments:

Emptidiot said...

Wonderful experience, indeed! Not only the mummys itself, but the whole exhibition: the visual work, all the additional exhibition stuff...
The name of the town is actually "Vác"!! I understand "á" wold be circuitous for you, but how does that extra "s" come there?:)
Your blog is a really-really nice work, and I'll be checking it from now on! Thank you!

JE said...

Thanks! I don't know where I got "Vacs," but i am a terrible speller. I have corrected the mistake, thanks for pointing it out.

Runa Hellinga said...

Well, maybe because you pronon=unce it like Váts.