MUMMIES OF GUANAJUATO

The human bodies appear to have been disinterred between 1870 and 1958. During that time, a local tax required a fee to be paid for “perpetual” burial. Some bodies for which the tax was not paid were disinterred, and some—those in the best condition—were stored in a nearby building. The climate of Guanajuato provides an environment which can lead to a type of natural mummification, although scientific studies later revealed that some bodies had been at least partially embalmed. By the 1900s, the mummies began attracting tourists. Cemetery workers began charging people a few pesos to enter the building where bones and mummies were stored.

This place was subsequently turned into a museum called El Museo de las Momias (“The Museum of the Mummies”) in 1969. As of 2007, 59 mummies were on display, of a collection that totals 111. The law requiring the burial tax was abolished in 1958.”

The first mummy was put on display in 1865. The museum is known to have the smallest mummy in the world, a fetus from a pregnant woman who fell victim to cholera. Some of the mummies can be seen wearing parts of the clothing in which they were buried.