Capuchin catacombs of Palermo Totally Explained

Everything about The Capuchin Catacombs Of Palermo totally explained

The Capuchin catacombs of Palermo 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'd 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 didn't send money any more, the body was put aside on a shelf until they continued to pay.
   The last friar interred into the catacombs was Brother Riccardo in 1871 but other famous people were still interred. The catacombs were officially closed for use in 1880 but tourists continued to visit them. However, the last burials are from the 1920s. One of the very last to be interred was Rosalia Lombardo, then two years old, whose body is still remarkably intact, preserved with a procedure now lost: the embalmer, Professor Alfredo Salafia took his method with him to his grave.
   The catacombs contain about 8000 mummies that line the walls. The halls are divided into categories: Men, Women, Virgins, Children, Priests, Monks, and Professionals. Some bodies are better preserved than others. Some are set in poses: for example, two children are sitting together in a rocking chair.
   Famous people buried in the catacombs include:

Colonel Enea DiGuiliano (in French Bourbon uniform)
Salvatore Manzella, surgeon
Lorenzo Marabitti, sculptor
Filipo Pennino, sculptor
Son of a king of Tunis who had converted to Catholicism
Allegedly Velasquez, Spanish painter, although his grave is officially unknown
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is sometimes said to be buried in the catacombs, but he's buried in the cemetery next to them.

The catacombs are open to the public. Taking photographs inside is prohibited although the bodies were shown in detail in the fourth episode of the 2006 BBC TV series .The interior of the catacombs was filmed / videotaped during a special hosted & narrated by Dr. Bob Brier which aired in the year 2000 on The Learning Channel. The coffins were accessible to the families of the deceased so that on certain days the family could hold their hands & they could "join" their family in prayer.
Also, iron grills have been installed to prevent tourists tampering or posing with the corpses.

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