Rosalia's father, Mario Lombardo, was grieving her death, asked Alfredo Salafia, an embalmer, to preserve her remains. Her premature death at age two left her father grief-stricken. Thank you for your cooperation.You can sign-up to the Membership any time to remove the adds and enjoy the content with no interruptions, Rosalia Lombardos perfectly preserved body, by Andrei Tapalaga | Sep 6, 2022 | Culture. Rosalia Lombardos remains is housed in a tiny chapel at the end of the catacomb tour, enclosed in a glass-covered coffin on a wooden pedestal. all right reserved. Later it became part of the Roman and Arab Empires before unifying with the modern-day Kingdom of Italy in 1861. In fact, the body of little Rosalia has organs in a perfect state of preservation and you can see how one lung is denser than the other, a clear sign that the little girl actually fell ill with bronchopneumonia. Avid Writer with invaluable knowledge of Humanity! ", "This Mummified Two-Year-Old Appears to Blink Every Day", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rosalia_Lombardo&oldid=1135738502, Sleeping Beauty of the Capuchin Catacombs, Being in an especially well preserved state in her tomb, in the, This page was last edited on 26 January 2023, at 15:26. In the 100 years since her death in 1920, Rosalia has become interwoven with Sicilian lore. Rosalia Lombardo (13 December 1918 6 December 1920)[1] was a Palermitan child who died of pneumonia, resulting from the Spanish flu,[2] one week before her second birthday. According to the laws of the time, in fact, the embalmed bodies should have remained in the Catacombs only temporarily, only to later find a definitive burial, a burial that Rosalia never had. Then, later in 2009 Dario Piombino-Mascali, a biological anthropologist sought out Alfredos living descendants and asked to go through his things for clues as to the formula. For after all, the dead have no need for grand decorations in this realm they leave behind. At a closer look, it can be seen that her eyes are not 100% closed and this was probably done with the intention by Alfredo Salafia to make her look more alive. Her father, Mario Lombardo, was so grief stricken that he asked an embalmer to preserve Rosalia's remains. Upcoming historian with over 30 million views online. Maria Cara Lombardo e Mario Lombardo, i genitori della piccola Rosalia (per gentile concessione della . Mario Lombardo, her father, wanted to uncover the specific cause of her death so he could "blame" someone. There is one last curiosity concerning Rosalia Lombardo. Genealogy for Mario Lombardo (1789 - 1864) family tree on Geni, with over 240 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. On December 6, 1920, a few days after her second birthday, Rosalia died. The two are more and more in love, they lead a comfortable and peaceful life and their little girl grows up beautiful, healthy and strong. A 2009 National Geographic photograph of Rosalia Lombardo shows the mummy is beginning to show signs of decomposition, most notably discoloration. Their families would continue to fund the monks who cared for the deceased for example with new clothes. (HTTP response code 503). These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Rosalia died due to pneumonia in a region which becomes extremely cold in the winter months. Her body was one of the last corpses to be admitted to the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo in Sicily. [6] The mummy remains one of the best preserved bodies in the catacombs. Home. Despite offering her the best medication possible at the time, she was too young and didnt have a strong enough immune system to be able to fight pneumonia. Available at: https://www.amusingplanet.com/2017/01/rosalia-lombardo-mummy-that-blinks.html, Mystery of The Blinking Child Mummy Solved. According to him, everything people are seeing is actually an optical illusion. Coming to this conclusion was not difficult for them. Rosalia Lombardo (13 December 1918 - 6 December 1920) was an Italian child who died of pneumonia. Rosalia Lombardo (13 December 1918 - 6 December 1920)[1] was an Italian child who died of pneumonia. [2] Her mummified body, sometimes referred to as "Sleeping Beauty", was one of the last corpses to be admitted to the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo in Sicily. Connect to 3,088 Lombardo profiles on Geni, Antonino Lombardo, Lombardo (ne Lombardo (Ne Corrao)), Maria Italia Lombardo, Antonino Lombardo, Lombardo, Lombardo, Lombardo, Antonino Lombardo, Rosalia Lombardo (ne Corrao), pe Dit Armando Lombardo, Concetta Pancano (ne Lombardo), Maria Italia Aiello (ne Lombardo), Antonino Lombardo, Alfredo Dit Adolfo Lombardo, Palermo, Province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. This entry was posted by Caleb Wilde on March 1, 2015 at 9:18 pm, and is filed under Aggregate Death. [2] Your access to this service has been limited. In fact, the only proof Rosalia the mummy has a sister is that there is a Rosalia Lombardo who was in discussion with the Sicilian government about the poor treatment of Rosalia by National Geographic. The typical embalming procedures include the complete removal of organs. Mario Lombardo refused to bury her daughter, claiming that losing his son had left him distraught. Rosalia Lombardo (13 December 1918 - 6 December 1920) was a Palermitan child who died of pneumonia, resulting from the Spanish flu, one week before her second birthday. His body is not here, it has been buried. Her name is Rosalia Lombardo who died on November 6th, 1920 with only two summers to her name and remains the youngest on show. You can also read the documentation to learn about Wordfence's blocking tools, or visit wordfence.com to learn more about Wordfence. Who is right? Full text data coming soon. The embalmers relatives gave him several of Alfredo Salafias documents. The monks agreed and she was one of the last mummies placed in the catacombs. All of which would have had a unique story to tell. Rosalia meant the world to her family, especially her father who sought to preserve her eternally. The eyes are half closed, so that the face can appear even more relaxed and sweet, an intense serenity. : 02075400842, 2023 by Albaincoming Eurofirst Tours. Rosalia Lombardo (13 December 1918 - 6 December 1920) [1] was a Palermitan child who died of pneumonia, resulting from the Spanish flu, [2] one week before her second birthday. The Lombardo family was Italian, and despite the fact that the Spanish flu pandemic was coming to an end, the girls pneumonia appeared to have been caused by this lethal illness. The first 3D image of Rosalia revealed that all the organs of her body are perfectly intact even after so many decades. Created By: Gillian Sarah | Copyright 2018 Kelsea Ventures, style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3840146551937959" data-ad-slot="9292028712">. The father refused to bury his daughter, seemingly extremely traumatized because of losing his child.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'historyofyesterday_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_5',104,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-historyofyesterday_com-medrectangle-3-0'); Rosalias death took place only a week shy of her second birthday. Suddenly, however, fate plays a mocking trick on the couple. Her father was so grief-stricken that he sought the aid of an embalmer and taxidermist to preserve his child. The blinking mummys mystery became famous across the world. STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. Piombino-Mascali, in trying to find out the formula, tracked down the living relatives of the embalmer. Her body is starting to take on a yellow waxy skin texture. The paraffin dissolved in the ether, then wiped on the girls face, making it look like she is looking directly at those who are looking at her. But let's go back to that December 6, 1920. She looks like a baby peacefully taking a nap, and although a blanket is placed over the coffin, the face is visible. Rosalia Lombardo (Born December 13, 1918 and Died December 6, 1920) was a Palmerian toddler who died one week before her second birthday from pneumonia caused by the Spanish flu. Many people believed that Lombardo had opened her eyes a fraction of an inch in a composite of many time-lapse photographs. (The oldest is a friar from 1599 called Silvestro da Gubbio). Mario Lombardo is an infantry officer who only on this day discovers what happiness is, true happiness. Most of the people that go to visit her mummified body believe that she is a miracle since she keeps blinking even though she has been dead for a long time. While this sparked stories about the mummy who could open her eyes on the internet, in 2009, Italian biological anthropologist Dario Piombino-Mascali disproved the core myth surrounding Rosalia Lombardo. Xolotl the Dog God of the Aztec mythology that guides the dead to the underworld, The Ebers Papyrus: Ancient Egyptian medical text reveals medico-magical beliefs and beneficial treatments. Its thought that changes in temperature inside the crypt cause her eyelids to contract to produce the blinking effect. If you are a WordPress user with administrative privileges on this site, please enter your email address in the box below and click "Send". Rosalia Lombardo - The Blinking Mummy . Piombino-Mascali made this amazing discovery in 2009 after some of the workers in the museum moved her coffin, which caused her body to shift a little bit. Rosalias gaze is something that has attracted onlookers to Palermo for a hundred years. Even though mummification is still practised in some distant cultures, it is uncommon in the Western world. The latter was a Sicilian little girl born in 1918 and dead in 1920 of pneumonia, at just two years. Rosalia Lombardo: The mystery of the Blinking Mummy, Present condition of Rosalia Lombardos mummy: The preserved corpse was relocated. Friars live their lives in servitude to society and the Capuchin friars created a monastery which in due course had the crypts below it excavated in 1599 when the graveyards filled henceforth known as the Catacombs of the Capuchins. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The mummification was so complex that in 2009 National Geographic took X-ray and MRI scans of Rosalia to determine if she was truly mummified, or if she was a wax replica. But why the bottle under Rosalia's head is completely empty remains an inexplicable mystery. The researchers wanted to see what state his body was in. Advertising Disclosure: This content may use referral links. This may just be one of the best-preserved mummies in the world, however, it is only 100 years old so it should not be the greatest wow factor. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Caligulas stunning 2,000-year-old sapphire ring tells of a dramatic love story, Evidence of a 14,000-year-old settlement found in western Canada, Archaeologists locate earliest known North American settlement, 2,400-year-old baskets still filled with fruit found in the submerged Egyptian city, 9,000-year-old site near Jerusalem is the Big Bang of prehistory settlement, Oldest stone tools ever found were not made by human hands, study suggests, Mysterious skeleton revealed to be that of unusual lady anchoress of York Barbican. It is so amazingly well-maintained that even X-rays show the internal organs to be intact. Rosalia Lombardo's father, official Mario Lombardo, was severely upset by the death of his loved daughter and contacted a famous Sicilian embalmer, Alfredo Salafia, to preserve the body of Rosalia. Her father, Mario Lombardo, was so grief stricken that he asked an embalmer to preserve Rosalias remains. Daughter of Mario Lombardo and Maria Di Cara They began to mummify dead friars and before long this technique of preservation after death became a sought after practice for the high classes of Sicily. Source: Multidetector CT investigation of the mummy of Rosalia Lombardo (19181920): https://www.academia.edu/4992159/Multidetector_CT_investigation_of_ Geni requires JavaScript! Indeed, it is quite difficult to gaze at the little body lying in the glass coffin and still not believe that the girl will awaken at any moment. In fact, it seems that Alfredo Salaria did not undertake any university career. Thanks to Salafia's embalming techniques, the body was well-preserved. The name of that girl is Rosalia Lombardo, who tragically died due to pneumonia in 1920, at the age of two. If you think you have been blocked in error, contact the owner of this site for assistance. Connect to 3,088 Lombardo profiles on Geni, Dec 13 1918 - Palermo, Province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy, Dec 6 1920 - Palermo, Province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy, Mario Lombardo, Maria Lombardo (ne Di Cara), Cause of death: Pneumonia - Dec 6 1920 - Palermo, Mario Lombardo, Maria Lombardo (born Di Cara), Palermo, Province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy, Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Palermo, Province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. Moreover, her striking crystal blue eyes are also visible underneath the blonde eyelashes. Her story to this day is passed on by the monks who still work in the catacombs. Rosalia's father, Mario Lombardo, was grieving her death, asked Alfredo Salafia, an embalmer, to preserve her remains. All rights reserved. Catacombe dei Cappuccini | Palermo, Italy, Fact Analysis: Rosalia's face has very sweet features, with the plump cheeks of a two-year-old girl, delicately framed by fair hair. When he uncovered this trove of the embalmers papers, he stumbled upon the document where the embalmer recorded all the chemicals that were injected in the body of Rosalia. I spend many hours researching her and you can read more about that here if you want. Rosalia Lombardo is known by many names; The Worlds Most Beautiful Mummy, Sleeping Beauty, The Girl In The Glass Coffin and of course: The Best Preserved Mummy In The World. Obviously it was expensive, for this reason these bodies almost all belong to people of high class. Despite providing her with the greatest medicine available at the time, she was still extremely young and lacked the necessary immune system to combat bronchopneumonia. Rosalia was born on December 13, 1918 and died on December 6, 1920 of pneumonia. It is a location rich in history between Europe and Africa on the banks of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Alfredo also designed an ad hoc coffin for little Rosalia, with a glass lid welded to a wooden crate, so that the body could be preserved for a long time, since there was no contact with light, since in this way no one could touch the body. Rosalia's father, official Mario Lombardo, was sorely grieved upon her death, so he approached Alfredo Salafia, a noted embalmer, to undertake the task of preserving her. Not only do visitors swear that the little girls eyes blink, but many sequences of photographs seem to confirm that her eyelids open and close a little. Life is full of constant reminders that we will one day die. Of him who gave eternal sleep to many bodies, of him who transformed Rosalia's body into a masterpiece, all that remains is a pile of bones. The embalming took place right there, in that house where the little girl lived her first two years of life, happy and surrounded by the love of her family. Husband of Assunta Mananizza Father of Eugenia Lombardo and Rosalinda Lombardo. Not only was the eye blinking mystery solved by Piombino-Mascali, but he also managed to track down the embalming formula Alfredo Salafia used to preserve the body of Rosalia in such impeccable condition. The grid is of the coffin beneath the body (Source:National Geographic). Her grieving father couldn't settle . [8], The mummy has achieved further notoriety for a phenomenon in which her eyes appear to open and close several times a day, revealing her intact blue irises. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. So ajar, they always seem on the verge of opening up, as if there is a hope that that little girl can return to life. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. But, the fact is, that theres not even a single photo of Rosalia when she was alive to validate any part of her history. But what curiosity are we talking about? I wrote about the Capuchin Catacombs already, but essentially, the Catacombs were a place where the dead were displayed in order to be visited by the living. Read our disclosure policy for more info. Her name is Rosalia Lombardo who died on November 6th, 1920 with only two summers to her name and remains the youngest on show. Her curly blonde hair and a ribbon on it make her look like she is just sleeping. Recently, the mummification techniques used by Salafia were discovered in a handwritten memoir of Salafias. Her body was one of the last corpses to be admitted to the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo in Sicily. Her father, Mario Lambardo who was a General, was so struck with grief when Rosalia Lombardo died that he couldnt part with her and wanted her placed in the Capuchin Catacombs. Top Image: Rosalia Lombardo. 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