Dethmama sent me a note about Rosalia Lombardo—an Italian girl who died on December 6, 1920, and was embalmed for preservation. She has been nicknamed Sleeping Beauty because, in many ways, she appears to be just sleeping.She is in remarkably good condition still, and her corpse is housed in the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, which I posted about below.
Just a little more information to add to the thread on strange burial sites that seems to have become the theme for this week.
3 comments:
My goodness...she is remarkably well preserved! I clicked into the link to her name and read that the written formula for the concoction used to embalm her was fairly recently discovered. Also, I noted in the article attached in the previous post that there is the suggestion that this formula might replace traditional formaldehyde; there is also mention that the ingredient that is believed to be responsible for the remarkable preservation, zinc, used to be used by American funeral homes. The article gives a resource for this information as a National Geographic issue circa 2009. Here's a link to that article. As well, following is another link to a National Geographic news story announcing the discovery of the embalming formula used on Rosalia.
Apparently, this is also the subject of at least one, if not more, television shows on the National Geographic Channel. The immediately previous link directs to a preview of the program, containing promotional videos, an overview, photos and the first air date in April. It sounds like it's narrated by Peter Coyote.
There is an interesting story at Kates-Boylston Publications on the embalmer whose work you are admiring.
Check it out on their website.
Your Funeral Guy.
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