The imperishable mummy of a two-year-old girl who died in the Sicilian city of Palermo in the 20th year of the last century is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful mummies in the world, she is also called the sleeping beauty of Palermo. Rosalia Lombardo is absolutely untouched by decay and looks as if she had just died, and not almost a century ago, some people who saw her even doubt whether they replaced her with a doll. Of all the Sicilian mummies, she is the most perfect.

Photos of Rosalia during her lifetime, like her other facts, were not found, there is a version that her father is General Lombardo. It is only known for certain that the child did not live up to his second birthday for a week, dying of pneumonia, and the heartbroken dad of the baby turned to Alfredo Salafia, a well-known embalming master not only in Sicily, but also far beyond its borders, who created this masterpiece.

Salafiya was a real master of his craft, starting his experiments on embalming on animals, he managed to invent a formula for an embalming substance, with which he even made a mummy of his own brother. He visited the United States with his experiments and gained worldwide fame. In Italy, he was trusted to embalm the bodies of prominent political and religious leaders. The mummy of the American consul kept in the mummy is also the work of his hands.

The secret of his success lay in the formula of a substance that replaced the blood of the deceased, all the internal organs remained in place and were also embalmed. This substance was sold, but its composition was lost with the death of the author. Already today, scientists - researchers have found relatives of Alfredo Salafia, fortunately, they have preserved his personal records, which indicated the composition of the miraculous remedy.

• formalin - destroys microorganisms and disinfects,
• alcohol - dries
• glycerin - does not allow you to lose too much moisture,
• zinc salts - make the body of the deceased hard.

In the case of Rosalia Lombardo, Salafia did not limit himself to preparing the body, he devoted Special attention and a coffin, which is made of wood, the walls inside are sheathed with lead foil, the girl's head rests on a wooden pillow. The top of the coffin is closed with double glass and sealed with wax. In this form, the body of the baby was exhibited in the chapel of St. Rosalia, the patroness of Palermo. The burial of this girl is one of the last in the catacombs of the Capuchins.

Secrets of the Mummy.

As with all others, several strange stories are associated with the mummy of Rosalia Lombardo.

In the year 2009, traces of decomposition still appeared, so the coffin with the child was placed in a capsule with nitrogen. Rosalia herself would have been ninety years old at this time.

Sleeping Rosalia, a princess with a tattoo and other mysterious mummies from around the world

When it comes to mummies, most people immediately think of Egypt. However, people for thousands of years have found ways to preserve the bodies of their dead on all continents. And if you add to this the number of people who were "accidentally" mummified naturally after death, then suddenly it turns out that mummies can be found almost everywhere, and not just in the pyramids. Let us give examples of such mummies, which are almost never mentioned anywhere.

1. Spirit Cave Mummy

The so-called "Spirit Cave Mummy" was discovered in the Spirit Cave near the town of Fallon, Nevada. In 1940, Sydney and Georgia Wheeler were exploring and excavating dry caves in the area when an unfortunate incident led to a successful discovery. Sydney injured his ankle while fleeing a rattlesnake and the couple took refuge in a nearby cave. Inside, they found not only 67 artifacts, but also two bodies wrapped in reed rugs.

One body is well preserved in a cave. It belonged to a man, about 45-55 years old, who died about 1500 years ago. Only in 1994, with the help of modern technology, they were able to accurately determine the age of the mummy. And it turned out not to be one and a half thousand, but as much as 9,415 years. Incredibly, the mummy's genome sequence proved that this individual was closely related to modern Native Americans.

2. Man from Tollund

The next naturally occurring mummy, known as the Tollund man, was discovered in Denmark in the 1950s. It was assumed that the deceased was about 40 years old. His corpse was dug up in a peat bog, where the acidic and deoxygenated environment kept the body and internal organs in good condition. Initially, it was believed that it was the corpse of one of the locals who fell victim to criminals. However, it was later revealed that "the man from Tollund" had died over 2,000 years ago.

Man from Tollund

Most researchers believe that the cause of death determined at the autopsy in the 1950s was correct: Tollund was hanged. Rope marks were found on his neck, and in 2002 a forensic examination found that his tongue was sticking out and swollen, a common occurrence in death by hanging or strangulation. Although the body decomposed after it was removed from the swamp, the head was carefully preserved. She can still be seen attached to a copy of the body in the Silkeborg Museum.

3. Xin Zhui

The mummified remains of Xin Zhui (aka Lady Dai) belonged to a Han Dynasty noblewoman in ancient China. She died in 163 BC. at the age of approximately 50 years. Her grave was discovered in 1971 while the Chinese military was digging a tunnel near Changsha. She was discovered in an elaborate burial chamber with over 1,000 precious items inside.

The discovery of Xin Zhui is extremely important because she is one of the best preserved mummies ever discovered in China. In fact, her skin is still elastic and her muscles are in such good shape that her joints are still able to flex. The main organs and the circulatory system are also in excellent condition. Scientists were even able to extract a small amount of blood from the mummy's vein and identify her blood type: type A. Incredibly, even her eyelashes and nose hair were intact, and Xin Zhui still has distinct fingerprints. For this reason, Xin Zhui's corpse is still being researched at the Hunan Museum, where they are trying to find the perfect way to preserve human bodies.

4. La Doncella

In 1999, the perfectly preserved body of a teenage girl was found atop Mount Lullaillaco in Argentina. Known as La Doncella ("The Virgin"), the girl was found next to the bodies of two more children. younger age, girl and boy. Their bodies are among the best preserved mummies ever found. This is because they were frozen in ice on top of the mountain. It is believed that the "Virgo" died 500 years ago, and she was sacrificed by the Incas.

Sometimes children were sacrificed during various rituals, leaving them for mountain peaks where they froze to death. Terrible as this sounds, it was considered an honor that only children from the most noble families could be bestowed. The shape of La Donachella's head suggests that she was indeed noble, as the shape of her skull was altered by traditional head wraps. Huge amounts of alcohol and coca leaves were also found in her system.

5. Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died in January 1924, and his body is still in the pyramidal mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow. For many years now there have been disputes about what to do with the mummy of the leader of the proletariat - to bury or continue to exhibit.

Vladimir Lenin in the Mausoleum.

Now the corpse, closely monitored by scientists, is kept at the ideal temperature and humidity in an airtight glass container to prevent it from decomposing. The exact method used to preserve Lenin's body is considered a state secret. However, foreign scientists have found that this process involves removing all the organs of the body, injecting embalming fluid into the veins, and soaking the body in embalming fluid for about six months.

6. Rosalia Lombardo

Perhaps this is one of the saddest stories on this list. Rosalia Lombardo, who was only 2 years old, died in Palermo in 1920, a victim of pneumonia. Her father Mario Lombardo was so shocked by what had happened that he turned to the famous embalmer Alfredo Salafia with a request to keep the tiny corpse. The body is so perfectly preserved that Rosalia is often referred to as the "Sleeping Beauty".

Baby Rosalia Lombardo.

Her body is kept in a glass coffin in the Capuchin catacombs in Palermo. Rosalia's mummy gained a creepy reputation as observers claimed that her eyes opened and closed at different times of the day. It is even said that the iris of her eyes still has bright blue pigmentation. However, this intimidating claim was debunked when it was discovered that the effect was caused by alternating light passing through the windows of the catacombs, as her eyes are in fact in a permanent half-closed state.

7. Tattooed Princess Ukok

"Princess Ukok", who lived in the 5th century AD, proves that tattoos remain with a person not only for life, but also after it. Her remains were found in a burial immured in a layer of ice in Siberia. While she may not be a real princess, "Ukoka" was almost certainly a person of high status, as she was buried next to six horses. Food items and jewelry were also found next to her corpse, and some witnesses say there was even a container of cannabis.

Tattooed princess of Ukok.

Although her internal organs had long since disintegrated, her bones and some of her skin survived. Incredibly, the intricate tattoos on both of the woman's arms are perfectly preserved. They show complex images of animals and mythical creatures. It is believed that these tattoos were an important part of people's personalities, showing family ties. They may also have been useful after death, helping people find each other in the afterlife.

8. John Torrington

Poor John Torrington is another example of how the conditions in which a person is buried can turn him into the perfect mummy in a completely random way. He was an ordinary stoker on Franklin's expedition to the Arctic Circle. John died of lead poisoning at the age of only 22 and was buried with three companions in the icy conditions of the tundra. In the 1980s, scientists who decided to exhume the body to determine the cause of death were shocked.

John Torrington.

When they opened the coffin, they saw blocks of ice. Carefully melting the ice, scientists saw the perfectly preserved faces of John Torrington and his ill-fated companions, who looked directly at them. The only deterioration in the condition of the corpse was a slight contraction of the lips and eyelids. While part of John's face was blue, it wasn't because of the cold. His skin was dyed with the pigment of the blanket in which he was buried.

9. Saint Bernadette

Another relatively modern mummy, Saint Bernadette grew up in France during Victorian times. As a teenager, Bernadette Soubirous claimed to have repeatedly had a vision of the Virgin Mary. On the site where these visions were (in the grotto) a shrine was built, and thus began a series of miraculous healings attributed to the spring in this grotto. While many of these miracles have since been debunked, a number of people to this day claim to have been cured by the waters of Lourdes.

Saint Bernadette

Bernadette herself died in 1879 of tuberculosis and was posthumously canonized. Her body was exhumed at least three times and declared "incorruptible" by the church. In other words, it mummified quite well, although some areas of decomposition were observed. This must have contributed to the mishandling of her body during the exhumations. For this reason, it was decided to cover the face and hands with a layer of wax to hide the decomposition. The mummy can be seen in the chapel of Saint Gildar in Nevers.

10 Atacama Alien Mummy

Perhaps the most bizarre of all the mummies on this list, the tiny "alien" mummy from the Atacama has one of the most tragic stories. The size of the remains, which were found in the Chilean Atacama Desert, is only 15 centimeters in length.

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Despite the fact that this girl lived less than two years, with December 13, 1918 before December 6, 1920, today everyone knows her, from young to old. At the same time, Rosalia's popularity has already come after how she left this world.

Whose photos during life are quite few, died of pneumonia. Her father, who was very hard to come to terms with the death of his beloved daughter, he decided to take a desperate step, turning to one of the best embalming specialists of that time Alfredo Salafii. His only request was that Alfredo, by any means, preserve the body of the deceased Rosalia in the same form as it was in life. Journalists who for some time had access to the girl's embalmed body described her as a very beautiful mummy. Thus began one of the most unusual and exciting stories on.

Interestingly, Alfredo Salafia, whose diaries were re-examined at the end of the last century, really managed to achieve amazing results by embalming Rosalia's body. In addition to the fact that outwardly the girl’s body was perfectly preserved, the specialist also managed to save all internal organs and brain. Alfredo himself concealed their secrets in personal diary where is Dario Piombino Mascali almost a century later, he managed to find a recipe for a unique solution of the master. It included glycerol, alcohol, formalin, zinc and several other chemical ingredients. Also Alfredo, making a mummy out of Rosalia Lombardo, launched a special liquid into her arteries and veins, which fully corresponded to healthy blood in color. Thus, he managed to save the entire circulatory system of the mummified girl from destruction.

The Miracle of Rosalia Lombardo

After her death, the girl's body was placed in a small church in Palermo. Since 1920, Rosalia Lombardo has been there. But, the most interesting thing is the uniqueness of the preservation of the body. In fact, for almost a century, the girl has not changed at all. Someone believes that this effect is achieved thanks to the unique solution of Salafia. Others believe that this is a real miracle. Regardless of who is really right, modern photo by Rosalia Lombardo prove that she looks like simply briefly fell asleep but never died in 1920.

The girl's skin is the same appearance like living children. Because of this, local journalists quickly dubbed Rosalia " sleeping beauty Palermo". The level of preservation is so good that even the hair, eyelids and eyes of the girl remain outwardly alive. This is impressive and amazes the imagination of those who see Rosalia with their own eyes.

Even several serious studies of scientists over a hundred years have not been able to really explain how this is possible. Many scientists who worked with the girl's body openly admitted the very fact of her existence today in this form - a real miracle. Moreover, during the entire period of research, two times the brain of a dead Rosalia emitted electrical impulses, which can usually only come from living organisms.

Local monks also have their own opinion. They tell a story about how one day opened her eyes. It was thirty-five years ago, and the watchman, who is in the hall with the girl's body, saw this and went crazy. True, according to the assurances of the monks, opened her eyes"sleeping beauty" is just thirty seconds. But, from time to time, even journalists photographing a girl claim that it seems that her eyes sometimes open slightly. So far, no one has been able to find a logical explanation for this.

There are still people who claim that Rosalia Lombardo is just sleeping, however, is in some unusual dream. In addition, given the fact that they began to mummify bodies in Sicily back in the sixteenth century and there were only about 8000 pieces, the uniqueness of Rosalia's body is only increasing - it has been preserved ten times better than all the other bodies of the Capuchin catacombs.

Photo of Rosalia Lombardo during her lifetime unfortunately not preserved. Remember, this was the beginning of the 20th century. Therefore, we can only admire the sleeping beauty in the Catacombs of the Capuchins in Palermo.

See Rosalia Lombardo now

It is possible that her mummy is in the Catacombs of the Capuchins in Palermo. How to get to the catacombs and opening hours, we wrote in detail in our article "". If desired, we can organize an individual excursion to the Catacombs, because quite a distance to walk from the center. Leave requests in the comments!

Baby angelic face Rosalia Lombardo captivates with beauty. plump lips, tender cheeks and closed eyes It has remained so for almost a century. The body of two-year-old Rosalia was embalmed using a special technology, and today "Sleeping Beauty" considered the best preserved mummy in the world. However, this mummy has its own secret, which will shock everyone who dares to look at it.

Baby Rosalia was only two years old when she died of pneumonia in 1920. The inconsolable father, not knowing how to survive the pain of loss, turned to the famous embalmer and taxidermist Alfred Salafia for help with a request to save the body of an angelic child. The specialist coped with the task perfectly: for a century the body of the crumbs lay in the burial catacombs in Palermo (Italy). The girl's body looked beautiful, it seemed that she had fallen asleep for a while and was about to wake up. Puffy cheeks, elegant hair with a bow - Rosalia looked like a living thing.

When scientists discovered the mummified body of Rosalia, they gave her the name "Sleeping Beauty". Having illuminated the body with X-rays, they were amazed: the internal organs remained incorruptible. Today, the body of Rosalia Lombardo is considered one of the best preserved mummies in the world.

The mummy of Rosalia also has its own mystery: visitors who come with an excursion to the catacombs assure that you can see how the baby opens her blue eyes. What they see causes fear among tourists. According to one version, the “wink” effect occurs due to temperature changes inside the crypt, the skin of the eyelids shrinks, slightly opening the pupils. However, exhibition curator Dario Piombino-Mascali believes that the winking eyes are an optical illusion. As the sun illuminates the catacombs, the rays fall on the girl's face so that her eyes look ajar. During the day, this phenomenon can be observed several times. Dario found the answer in 2009, when museum workers moved the girl's coffin, and it became clear that the eyelids were ajar.

It is also interesting that Dario found the relatives of the talented embalmer, and they have preserved documents with a detailed description of the procedure for embalming the body. Instead of removing all the internal organs, Alfred Salafia made a puncture in the body and gradually introduced substances one by one, which ensured the perfect preservation of the body over time. Formalin killed the bacteria, glycerin was used to prevent the body from drying out, salicylic acid was used as an antifungal agent. In addition, Salafiya used zinc chloride to make the body petrify, and there were no further dips in the cheeks and nasal cavity.

Rosalia Lombardo was born on December 13, 1918 in Palermo - and on December 6, 1920 she was no more. But this girl, who died of pneumonia, became famous only after her death. Rosalia's father, who was very upset by her death, turned to the famous embalmer Dr. Alfredo Salafia with a request to save his daughter's body from decay. The burial of Rosalia Lombardo was one of the last in the history of the Capuchin catacombs in Palermo.

The girl's body has been buried since 1920 in a small church in Palermo. But the most surprising thing is not this at all, but the fact that after her death, Rosalia ... did not change at all. Thanks to the embalming technique of Salafia - or something else - her body, exhibited in a glazed coffin on a marble pedestal in the middle of the chapel of St. Rosalia (the last point of the tourist route through the Capuchin catacombs), has survived until the 21st century almost in its original form. Rosalia's skin did not lose its natural color, the child seemed not dead, but sleeping, which is why Lombardo's mummy received the nickname "Sleeping Beauty".

Some argue that there is no miracle in this at all - and the whole point is that the unique embalming technology allowed Rosalia's body to remain as it was at the time of death.

A description of the embalming procedure developed by Salafia was found in his handwritten archive by the Messina paleopathologist Dario Piombino Mascali. Salafia replaced the blood of Rosalia Lombardo with a liquid composition of disinfectant formalin, alcohol, which contributes to the rapid drying of the body, glycerin, which protects the mummy from complete dehydration, antifungal salicylic acid, and zinc salts, which gave the body hardness. Composition formula: 1 part glycerin, 1 part saturated formalin solution of zinc sulfate and zinc chloride, 1 part saturated alcohol solution of salicylic acid. After that, the girl's body was placed in a glass coffin.

However, modern scientists argue that neither this composition nor the procedures performed by Salafia explain such preservation of Rosalia's body - for 83 years the girl's body has been so well preserved that even Rosalia's blond hair has not changed much. Absolutely everything is whole - eyelashes, soft tissues of the body and even the eyeballs of a bluish color, which is almost completely impossible. This phenomenon attracts tourists from all over the world.

Since even scientists consider this an incredible miracle, all this time the body of the deceased Rosalia was under observation. Experts say that weak electrical impulses emanating from the girl's brain were recorded. The computer recorded two flashes lasting 33 and 12 seconds. This is possible only if the person is alive, such outbreaks can be expected in a sleeping girl, but not in a dead girl.

The monks say that around the mysterious room in which the girl lies in a glass coffin, some miracles constantly occur. In particular, the key to the wooden lattice that closes the entrance disappears.

“35 years ago, the local caretaker suddenly lost his mind,” says Father Donatello. “He claimed that he saw Rosalia open her eyes. It lasted only half a minute. After the body was examined by scientists and confirmed: something is wrong here.” claim to have seen trembling eyelids and there were witnesses who heard Rosalia sigh even though she is medically dead.

The same monks claim that Rosalia's body at times exudes the smell of wild flowers, lavender in particular. Neither scientists nor priests have an explanation for these facts.

Experts say that there is a simple, not mystical explanation for this. “This is just an optical illusion produced by light falling on the mummy's face from different angles at different hours,” explained catacomb keeper Dario Piombino-Mascali.