The Mummy Museum is located in the Mexican town of Guanajuato. Its exhibition consists of naturally mummified bodies. From 1865 to 1958, the city had a law under which the relatives of the deceased were forced to pay a tax for burial in the cemetery. If the tax was not paid for several years, the body of their relative was exhumed. If it managed to mummify, it was sent to the collection. Currently, the museum houses 111 mummies.
IN late XIX- at the beginning of the 20th century, tourists began to become interested in mummies, and savvy cemetery workers began to charge a fee for visiting the room where the relics were kept. Officially, the year of opening of the Museum of Mummies in Guanajuato is considered to be 1969, when the mummies were placed in glass shelves and exhibited in a separate room. In 2007, the museum's exhibition was divided into different themes. The museum attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.
A museum of this kind cannot help but become surrounded by legends; they say that the oldest mummies date back to 1833, when the city was hit by a cholera epidemic. Whatever their history, it does not negate their uniqueness, because, unlike Egyptian mummies, they were not intentionally mummified. The local climate and soil were conducive to natural mummification.
The rarest exhibit is considered to be a small mummy of a baby; it is signed as “the smallest mummy in the world.” Tradition says that the baby died during an unsuccessful birth.
Sometimes exhibits are exhibited in other cities. As a rule, these are about a dozen mummies, the insurance value of which is a million dollars.
There is a souvenir shop at the museum where you can buy clay mummies and more.
- Address: Explanada del Panteón Municipal s/n, Centro, 36000 Guanajuato, Gto., Mexico
- Telephone: +52 473 732 0639
- Website: momiasdeguanajuato.gob.mx
- Opening hours: 9:00-18:00
- Year founded: 1969
Some may argue, but, according to most tourists who have visited, the city is the most beautiful in the country. And the most amazing and at the same time creepy museum is the museum of mummies in Guanajuato, located in the very center.
The history of the museum of mummiesTranslated, the name of the city means “hilly place of frogs.” Scientists have found that the swampy lands of Guanajuato are literally saturated with substances that allow the body of the deceased not to decompose, but to naturally mummify. This is precisely the reason for the emergence of a museum of mummies in Guanajuato in Mexico, photos of the exhibits of which make you shudder. The shocking museum was opened around the middle of the last century. By that time, exhibits had been accumulated for the macabre exhibition - 111 mummies, including the remains of small children.
Starting from mid-19th Art. and for nearly 100 years, relatives of the deceased were charged for the use of the land on which the burial site was located. Many could not pay bills, or the dead simply had no living relatives, and then the corpses were exhumed and stored in a special room at the cemetery. Tourists visiting the country sneaked in for a few pesos to see the mortal remains of the Mexicans. Subsequently, they decided to legalize this by creating a world-famous museum of mummies.
What's so interesting about a creepy panopticon?
Those who decide to visit the museum of mummies should weigh the pros and cons - this place is quite frightening, which can affect the health of people with weak nervous system. It is not recommended for pregnant women to come here, and it is better not to bring children here - there are more suitable fun places for them in Guanajuato. So what awaits tourists in this creepy crypt? Let's find out:
How to get to the Mummy Museum?
Getting to the museum is quite easy; it is located near the central cemetery of the city, the Pantheon of St. Paula. There are signs for tourists everywhere throughout the city, making it easier to get to the Mummy Museum.
But in real life they do not pose any danger, but are the most valuable archaeological site, capable of telling about the life and traditions of ancient people. If you are not afraid of meeting a mummy, then you should definitely visit the Guanajuato Museum in Mexico, which has collected more than fifty mummies under one roof.
One of the most shocking museums is located in Mexico, in the city of Guanajuato. You will never see living creatures there, because the main and only exhibits are mummies. Before we begin the story, let’s figure out who mummies are. A mummy is the body of a living creature, processed with a special chemical composition, slowing down the decomposition process.
The history of the creation of the museum of mummies
How did the idea of creating such a strange museum come about? Let's turn to history. It all started in the 19th century, when the city authorities introduced a burial tax. From now on, in order to be buried in the cemetery, the population had to pay a fee. Of course, the dead could not pay for themselves; this responsibility was automatically transferred to the relatives of the deceased. But, as a rule, the payment either simply did not arrive, or the deceased had no relatives. The bodies were then exhumed. Imagine the surprise of gravediggers when they dig up not just a bunch of bare bones, but entire bodies, practically in perfect condition. Mysticism? Not at all. It's all about the special structure and unusual composition of the soil, which created natural conditions for mummification.
The law was in effect for almost a hundred years. But this was quite enough to collect a rich fund for the future museum. The mummies were kept in a building next to the cemetery. Time passed, and this collection began to attract more and more tourists, who were even willing to pay to “admire” the terrible exhibits. This is how the Guanajuato Mummies Museum came into being.
Museum structure
In total, the museum has 111 mummies, but only 59 are on public display. But even this number is enough to scare some tourists. The museum begins with a small corridor lined on both sides with the most ordinary and unremarkable mummies. The most interesting thing is that each of them has preserved skin. Not as tender as a person’s, but the creature died long ago, he can be forgiven. Some of the deceased are displayed in the clothes they were buried in. But then the exhibits become much more interesting. In the past, these were people of different classes. For example, there is a mummy in a leather jacket. Surprising, considering that a person lived in the 19th century, when there was no rock and motorcycles. In another room you can meet the mummy in full regalia: dress, jewelry. There is even a mummy with a waist-length scythe. These are the exhibits.
But most horrifying is the tradition of taking souvenir photos with dead children. The museum even displays photographs that will make your hair stand on end. In the next room you can see the mummy of a pregnant woman and her child - the smallest mummy in the world. No one will be indifferent to the room with mummies who did not die a natural death. There you can meet drowned people, a woman who fell into a lethargic sleep, and a man who died from a cranial injury. Each pose makes it clear who died and how. Some of them even had their shoes on. These are entire works of art from the ancient shoe industry.
And in conclusion
Many would consider Mexicans to be a savage people who take death lightly. What causes horror and disgust in us is commonplace among them. Mexicans prefer to be friends with death. This is what our distant ancestors bequeathed. They even have national holiday- “day of the dead”. For residents of Mexico, death is the most common occurrence. Maybe we should also take a simpler approach to life?
As I promised in the previous post, today I will talk about the main attraction of the beautiful city Mexico - . It's about about a truly shocking Mexican freak show - Museum of mummies(Museo de las Momias de Guanajuato). I warn you: it is better for impressionable people, with a sensitive psyche, pregnant women and nursing mothers to refrain from viewing this post. It contains many photographs people's bodies who left our mortal world about 100-150 years ago, and this is unlikely to benefit you. The rest are welcome, but preferably not at night
It all started with the fact that in mid 19th century city authorities Guanajuato a burial tax was introduced. This meant that dead citizens were buried in local cemeteries not for thanks, but on the condition of a paid extension of their grave site. Since the dead themselves, for obvious reasons, cannot pay for themselves, their relatives had to do this. If the relatives did not have the opportunity or desire to pay, and in some cases, in fact, the relatives themselves were not found, then the body of the deceased was exhumed. Imagine the surprise of the cemetery workers when, instead of a pile of bones, they had to remove from the graves almost brand new dead people, many of whom still had hair, teeth, nails and even clothes! Amazing fact an explanation was quickly found: it turned out that the unique composition of the soil and climate Guanajuato promotes the natural process of mummification of bodies buried here. And no mysticism.
The law obliging relatives to pay cemetery tax was in force from 1865 to 1958, and it was during this time that the “fund” of the future museum was formed: 111 mummies, buried during the period 1850-1950(according to some information, citizens who died during the cholera epidemic in 1833). The mummified dead were kept in a room at the cemetery, which gradually began to attract tourists who wanted to visit it for a few pesos. That's how this one appeared, one of the most terrible in the world, museum.
Currently on display in the museum 59 mummies, several of which are mummies of children(at this point, think again about whether you want to scroll down). Some of them are equipped with signs on which it is written in the first person: I am such and such, I gave my soul to God at such and such a time, my stoned earth's shell was extracted from the mother damp earth then and then and then.
A visit to the museum begins with a corridor of mummies, behind the glass of which stand almost identical, unremarkable dead bodies. All of them have preserved skin, which, of course, cannot be called soft and silky, but still; some comrades stand with their hair and legs trimmed, and the one on the far right flaunts codpieces and boots, in which, obviously, he was sent to a better world.
Then there are much more interesting characters. For example, this is the best-preserved specimen in a leather jacket. If not for some inconsistencies in his years, one would think that during his lifetime the guy was a rocker.
We go further and see no less interesting exhibits: one of the dead is comfortably seated in a coffin, someone attracts attention with a remarkably preserved toilet, and one of those who have passed on to another world attracts museum visitors with her almost waist-length scythe. 
Next, go to the gallery with the name Angelitos, in which, as you might guess, are stored baby mummies. According to local tradition, deceased children were dressed up in festive clothes - boys in costumes of saints, girls in costumes of angels, believing that this way their sinless souls would go to heaven faster.
But what shocked me much more were the photographs on the walls of this room, telling about the tradition that existed at that time - to take photographs as a souvenir with already dead babies. I immediately remembered an episode from my favorite horror movie “The Others,” where the same thing was supposed to be done with dead people of any age. It's creepy, in general.
In the next room is the mummy of a woman who died in late pregnancy, and her unborn child - smallest mummy in the world.
The next room with mummies of people produces quite a peculiar impression. those who did not die a natural death. Here, for example, is an exhibition of a person buried alive (left), a drowned person (middle) and someone who died from a traumatic brain injury (right). With the third, everything is clear, but how the other two comrades, who were subsequently mummified, died is revealed by their extremely unnatural poses. The mummy on the left is a woman who fell into a lethargic sleep and was buried by mistake, the position of whose hands indicates an attempt to get out of such an unfortunate situation for her. From the position of the drowned man one can judge that in the last seconds of his life he was severely short of air.
Two of the victims still had their shoes. But what are their shoes compared to these exquisite examples of the shoe industry of that time?!
Many of you will probably want to ask: Was it scary to walk around the museum? I answer - it’s not scary. There were times when I was completely alone among the living in some hall: my husband, having barely crossed the threshold, skipped out of the museum, and there were so few other visitors that we did not interfere with each other at all. I felt absolutely calm, and only one single thought haunted me from beginning to end: and THIS is how it all ends! Maybe it sounds loud, but from a museum death I left with a slightly changed outlook on life.
Surely many of you who read this post will think that Mexicans are crazy. Anticipating your surprise, indignation, perhaps even indignation, I cannot help but put in a good word for them. The fact is that Mexicans generally have a rather peculiar attitude towards death: they perceive it not just calmly, but, one might say, optimistically. What is absurd and even shocking for us, people of another culture, for Mexicans is a natural part of their life. The tradition of not being afraid, but even “making friends” with death goes back to the beliefs of their ancestors. The ancient Indians believed that death is the beginning of something greater, and it is much more important than life. IN Mexico there is even a corresponding holiday - when they pay tribute to death and even flirt with it a little. If you try to look at things through the eyes of a Mexican, then even this museum doesn’t look so terrible.
In general, as you may already guess, this is not the last post on the topic of Mexicans and death.. And now a little useful information for those who want to visit the museum of mummies.
Where is the Mummy Museum:
The Museum of Mummies (Museo de las Momias de Guanajuato) is located in the city of Guanajuato. I wrote about how to get to Guanajuato. The museum is located next to the cemetery - Pantheon. There are signs leading to the Museum of Mummies from absolutely anywhere in the city.
How much does it cost to visit the Mummy Museum in Guanajuato:
The entrance ticket to the Mummy Museum costs 52 Mexican pesos; photography costs 20 pesos.
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The Exhacienda San Gabriel de Barrera Museum is a museum of Mexican gardens. Here you can see Mexican flowers, shrubs and trees. The Exhacienda San Gabriel de Barrera Museum is located on a huge Mexican ranch created in the seventeenth century. Previously it belonged to the famous Mexican Gabriel Barrera. He gained popularity as a gardener thanks to the cultivation of various plants. These were Mexican flowers, shrubs and trees. Seventeen Barrera gardens have survived to this day.
Visitors to the gardens will be able to see here not only representatives of plants that were grown in the seventeenth century, but also those that are found in Mexico today.
Five gardens are located in the museum at open area, there are also those located indoors. Exhacienda San Gabriel de Barrera is open every day. Visitors are welcome from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. You will have to pay about eight dollars for a day at the museum.
Diego Rivera Museum
The Diego Rivera Museum was founded in 1975. It contains a collection famous artist Mexico Diego Rivera. The gallery's collection includes over one hundred and seventy-five works by the master. Most The paintings once belonged to local resident Marta. At the Diego Rivera Museum, visitors will be able to see paintings that the artist created in early childhood, during adolescence and recent years life. The last painting he created dates back to 1956. In the museum you can see these famous paintings Diego Rivera as "Madame Libet", "Dove of Peace", "Classic Head".
In addition to paintings, the gallery also presents some of the artist’s sketches. The Diego Rivera Museum houses works by other twentieth-century Mexican artists. They are combined into a separate collection called “minimark”. For example, here you can see paintings by José Luis Cuevas. The Diego Rivera Museum is open at any time of the year. You will have to pay a few dollars to stay in the museum.
Mummy Museum
The Museum of Mummies in the Mexican town of Guanajuato invites its visitors to look at the mummified bodies of people, of which there are more than a hundred collected here. The museum's exhibition is evidence of a very unusual attitude towards death. The preservation of the mummies on display is very good. Mexican mummies differ from Egyptian ones in that the atmosphere and soil in Mexico are too dry, so the bodies are severely dehydrated and not specially embalmed.
The museum exhibits 59 mummies that were exhumed between 1865 and 1958. At that time, there was a law in the country according to which relatives had to pay a tax in order for the bodies of their deceased loved ones to rest in the cemetery. And if the family could not pay on time, they lost the right to the burial site, and the bodies were removed from the stone tombs. After lying in dry soil, some bodies naturally mummified and were kept in a special building at the cemetery.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the mummies located there began to attract the attention of tourists, and cemetery employees began charging fees for inspection. In 1969, when the mummies in Guanajuato were displayed in glass cases. And in 2007, the museum’s exhibition was rearranged into thematic sections. Every year hundreds of thousands of tourists come here, as well as numerous researchers.
Museum of Independence
The Independence Museum is located in the city center inside a building built at the end of the eighteenth century by philanthropist Francisco Miguel Gonzalez.
Previously there was a prison here, which at one time historic Sunday in September 1810 lost all its prisoners as a result of the Grito de Independencia.
In 1985, the building acquired the status of a museum, which includes present moment seven permanent exhibitions, including “The Liberation of Prisoners”, “Abolition of Slavery”, “Judicial Hidalgo”, “The Perfection of Independence” and others. In addition to exhibitions, the museum organizes excursions, thematic film series, traveling exhibitions, conferences and concerts.
Casa de la Tia Aura Museum
This museum can literally be called unique. Because its exhibition is a very unique collection of impressions, shades, nuances and inexplicable feelings left over from those who inhabited this old house before the residents.
This museum is often called the Haunted House. And the special effects help to very reliably experience its mysterious and even mystical setting.
The idea for creating such a museum was given by information that human sacrifices were performed inside this house.
The house tour is only available on Spanish, so it will not be so easy for foreign-language guests to understand the guide’s story. But very believable sighs, rustles and other sounds speak for themselves. You definitely won’t be bored in this museum.
The museum is open from Monday to Saturday.
Mummy Museum
The Mummy Museum was created at the end of the nineteenth century. It was opened in 1865. At this time, the first mummified body was discovered in the pantheon of Santa Paulo. Over one hundred and fifty years of history, the museum has been visited by over one million visitors. The museum's mummy collection includes more than one hundred exhibits. Some of them were donated to the museum by American researchers.
The Mummy Museum was created to preserve cultural heritage Mexico. Each exhibit reflects life in Guanajuato over several decades. During tours of the Mummy Museum, the guide tells visitors about the features appearance mummifications, decorating their graves, and also retells Mexican legends associated with mummies. Each museum employee took part in archaeological excavations, which are constantly held in Guanajuato. In 2007, the mummy museum was reconstructed.
Museum of Fine Arts in Quixote
The Quixote Museum of Fine Arts is a museum created under the patronage of the Government of Guanajuato and the Cervantina Eulalio Foundation. The Quixote Museum of Fine Arts is widely known as cultural center. The reason for its fame lies not only in the widest thematic collection of the museum (more than 900 works of art). First of all, the museum is known as the center of the annual Arts Festival, where artists, writers, sculptors and other representatives of the creative intelligentsia from all over the world gather.
The museum's exposition includes paintings made in different styles and techniques, sculptures, ceramics, decorative and applied arts and much more. The collection continues to grow, mainly through donations from the Cervantina Foundation.
Folk Museum of GuanajuatoThe National Museum in Guanajuato
Folk Museum Guanajuato is located in one of the the most beautiful places historical part of the city. The museum was opened in 1979 and since then its collection has been constantly replenished with new examples of folk art.
The permanent exhibition of the museum presents many objects of national heritage. This and archaeological finds, and samples fine arts, and tools, and household items of local peoples. The pearl of the museum is its extensive collection of miniatures.
Despite the abundance of exhibits, the museum's exhibition is organized very compactly, which makes visiting the museum very comfortable.
The museum is open every day, except Sunday and Monday, from ten o'clock in the morning to seven o'clock in the evening. On Sunday the museum is open to the public from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon.
Jean Byron House Museum
This museum is a recreation of a hacienda - a typical building in which wealthy residents settled during the times when the silver mining industry flourished. The hacienda was restored in the mid-50s of the last century and in our time is a good visual example of the lifestyle of its last inhabitants - the artist Jean Byron and her husband Virgil.
The creative inclinations of the residents of the house left a colorful imprint on its decoration. It is furnished with subtle taste. The interior is decorated with original objects made of wood and ceramics, paintings, as well as antique furniture. Beautiful garden, surrounding the house-museum, also pleases with its calm beauty.
The house functions as a museum, which regularly hosts exhibitions. There is also a cultural center where concerts are held. baroque music and a variety of activities applied arts. Some art products can be purchased.
San Ramon Mining Museum
The San Ramon Prospectors Museum is a public museum dedicated to mining industry region and is open to everyone. Permanent exhibition includes mineral exhibitions, vintage photographs, objects of labor and life of miners of Valencia County.
The oldest exhibits in the museum date back to 1549, when surface deposits of silver were discovered in the county of Valencia, considered to this day one of the richest in the world. Later, mining began to be done using the shaft method. A separate exhibition is set up in one of these mines. The total length of this mine is five hundred and fifty meters, however, for safety reasons, only the first fifty are allowed to be visited.
At the entrance to the excursion mine there is a small restaurant where you can try national cuisine in an appropriate setting.
Sights of Guanajuato
