Mummies in Oria
The mummies in Oria are lined up in a Cripta delle Mummie beneath the cathedral to ensure that posterity would remember the battles against invading pirates.
I have been traveling in Puglia for almost twenty years, I pretend to know the attractions of the region, and I visit Oria regularly eg. in connection with the enactment of the Easter Passion, yet the Cripta delle Mummie in Oria came as a complete surprise. We were showing off the make believe view of two seas to visitors from Denmark and entered the cathedral for a quick look around, when to young guys shouted ‘the crypt is open’ and directed us towards a side chapel with a nod of the head.
A room lined with dead
Not knowing what to expect, we paid 1 Euro each and were guided downstairs to a room lined with dead people. Pinned up in 22 niches were grotesquely grinning skeletons with gaping mouths, bony fingers, colour-drained red hair and dusty, ragged clothes. On a shelf above the mummies skulls were crammed together in an eerie display.
There’s no smell in the room, but the coolness sent shivers down our spines in spite of the summer heat outside, and I honestly didn’t quite know what to think. Why would any church preserve their dead instead of having them buried? And what story were the corpses trying to convey?
The surviving mummies in Oria are lined up along the walls of the crypt, while those that have perished are kept as skulls.
In memory of past hardship
The answers arrived with a very nice and charming warden, who told us that the crypt was built in 1484 as a place of prayer to remember the young men from Oria who did not return from the battle against the Turks at Terra d’Otranto (1480-1481).The following centuries pirates were constantly attacking Puglia, and the locals organized crusading armies to fight looters. To make sure that posterity would remember these hardships, some citizens asked to be preserved and have a place in the crypt. The mummies in Oria were not ordained or members of monastic orders, but ordinary people of different times and ages as reflected in their burial clothes.
After death, the men who had declared their wish of mummification in front of an assembly of no less than 40 peers and family, would have their brains sucked out through their nostrils. Intestines would be removed and replaced with chalk and fragrant herbs, and the body would be submerged in more chalk for at least two years. It was a very costly process, only the rich could afford. After two years dehydration, the family of the deceased would be obliged to clean the corpse, dress it and place it in the niche. The mummification was conducted 20-30 times from the 1700s to 1858, even though the Napoleon edict of Saint-Cloud prohibiting burial in churches for hygienic reasons was issued in 1804. Still, only 22 mummies have survived to the present.
The crypt is below ground level and some years ago it was flooded and half the mummies in Oria dissolved. Their skulls are now stacked on the shelf, ready to give visitors a good scare.
This article was last updated in February 2018
Italian Notes
Italian Notes
That is so creepy. And so fascinating. What is it with preserving dead bodies…? Surely there are better ways to remember them…
This is creepy. What a way to be remembered, but I guess it does leave a lasting impression.
Great post for Hallowe’en. What a bizarre story. I don;t think I’d know what to make of it all either – but if entrance is only 1 Euro, I’d have to have a little look just out of curiosity. :)
Julia
I agree with you all, but must admit that the old geezers achieved their goal by making us aware of their wars and sufferings.
We lived in Italy when I was a child about 8/9 yrs old, early 70s. Our school took us for a field trip to this crypt. I have thought of it many times over the years, but could never find anything on it. Thank you so much for your article.
It must have been a scary experience. I know my children have been more shocked than I’d thought when we have visited the mummies in Oria. Even though they had been prepared beforehand.
Creepy! Would love to check it out though.
I love creepy cool stuff like this! :)
I’ve there as well in 1999. I have friends in Oria and they made me visit the mummies. It was quite fascinating. I fratelli della muerta. very nice pictures
I’m glad to know other foreigners have shared the same experience. It is not that well advertised.
There are several places like that in Italy and Spain. The “best” one (in a creepy way) is the Catacombe dei Cappuccini in Palermo, Sicilia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombe_dei_Cappuccini). I’ve never been there, but it’s been recommended to me.
Very nice blog!
Thank you for the comment. I’ve hear about the one in Palermo as well. Can’t wait to visit.
I’ve been to the catacombs in Palermo they are well worth a visit. Ime in South Italy (basilicata ) in April I will definitely go to Oria to see them.
Do check out, if they are open before you go. Oria is quite a long drive from Basilicata – even if you are just in Matera or Bernalda – so it would be a pity to go there and find it closed.
I was there in 1973, and the entire crypt was lit by a single hanging light bulb. I was in the military then, and took pictures. The pictures came back blank and I was told the Italian government would not allow the pictures to be developed.
I can image what it must have been like 40 years ago. Puglia has changed a lot in recent years, as has the official attitude to illicit burial rites, I guess.
I doubt that you’ll see this since your post was nearly 5 years ago, but I went there as a kid when my dad was stationed in Italy from 1971-73. I don’t know why his pictures were developed when yours weren’t, but I still have the slides that my dad took.
I visit the mummies in Oria regularly, and I’ve never had problems taking photographs.
While living in Italy with my husband stationed in USAF in1969 we went to this church and saw this. Didn’t cost any money. A nun took us down to see it. Neither her or us could speak each other’s language so never knew the story til reading this. It definitely was creepy.
For me the creepy part was not knowing what to expect before entering the vault. The skeletons took me by surprise, but they weren’t as morbid as the Capuchin Crypt in Rome or as extensive as the catacombs of the capuchins in Palermo.
While stationed in Brendisi in 1970, my friend Terry Fisher and I visited
The church. The older people in town wouldn’t tell us where the church was, but younger people did.
A priest showed us down to the crypt. Don’t remember a charge. Have slides taken at that time.
We were there back in the early 70’s. My husband was stationed in San Vito, at San Vito Air Station. If I remember correctly, our guide wouldn’t go downstairs with us. I have pictures of the monks. My children were so fascinated by the pictures, that they took them for “show and tell” at school.
The church was beautiful inside. All of the wax figures behind the glass. It was an experience of a lifetime, and I would love to come back sometime. My husband was stationed there 3 years and we have so many beautiful memories of our stay in Italy. The Italian people are the best, caring and giving and welcoming people I have ever met!
A lifetime ago, 50 years, and we’re still married.
Thank you so much for letting me take a walk down memory lane.
God Bless.
Thank you for sharing your story. Puglia must have been so different back then. The area has gone through a tremendous development over the thirty odd years we have been regular visitors, so I can’t imagine what it must have been like in the 70s.
I was there when I was 10. We have pictures of them. My dad was stationed at San Vito also. Small world
I was also stationed at San Vito 3 times, 68-70, 71-72, and 78-80. My then wife and I saw the Monks while there the first time. I agree that they are Very eerie. We all got hushed upon seeing them. It was definitely an intense feeling. Both respectful and creepy. The experience still gets me in awe when I remember it. We lived in Speechiola at the time and loved living there, waking up in the morning to the smell of the bakery in the next block.