Welcome to Guanajuato.
A central Mexican city rich in history and culture...and home to Las Momias de Guanajuato,
The Mummies of Guanajuato. A shocking local attraction that we won’t be forgetting anytime
soon.
Come with us and learn some Spanish as we explore The Museum of the Mummies.
¡Comencemos!
One of the main reasons why people visit Guanajuato is to see the Museo de las Momias.
Everyone we talked to said “you can’t say you’ve been to Guanajuato if you didn’t
see the mummies”, so on our first day in the city we did just that.
We took the bus that says “Momias” from downtown Guanajuato, but you could also take
a taxi or an Uber that will take you right to the museum.
If you take the bus just make sure you let the driver know that you’re going to the
museo.
They can let you know when to get off.
Just to the left you’ll find the entrance to the cemetery, and to the right you’ll
see the entrance to the museum.
Before we go to museum, we are going to show you the panteón where the main characters
of this story came from.
We are here in the cemetery Panteón Santa Paula in Guanajuato where over 108 bodies
were exhumed between 1870 and 1958.
It was during that time that there was a tax in place for keeping a body here and those
who didn’t pay the tax had the bodies removed to a nearby building.
It was there that some of the workers here started charging for others to come and see
the mummies there, and that’s how the mummy museum started.
That’s right.
The bodies were kept in that building until family members or friends claimed the bodies,
but the bodies who never got claimed are now part of the museum.
The cemetery workers noticed that some of the exhumed bodies were mummified.
Later it was discovered that the weather in Guanajuato, and the fact that the crypts were
sealed air-tight were the main factors that lead to the natural mummification of the bodies.
Alright, we just arrived to the museum.
So we are ready to see some mummies.
In 1969, the Guanajuato Mummy Museum opened its doors.
It is located right atrás the cemetery where the mummies were first discovered.
The first body that was disinterred belonged to Dr. Remigio Leroy, a French doctor who
lived in the city.
Not having any relatives in Mexico, no one paid the tax for him and his body was exhumed.
In the museum you’ll also find the body of Juan Jaramillo.
His body is the best preserved, having no tears in his skin, and his teeth are completely
in tact.
One of the rooms holds what the museum considers the most important of the mummies in the exhibit:
la momia más pequeña del mundo.
A fetus just a few months old who was either stillborn or died at birth.
In another room you’ll find three mummies that are separated from the rest.
These three mummies are unique in the museum in that they died from unnatural causes:
One from a stab wound, one ahogado, and another who is believed to have been buried alive.
111 bodies of mummified men, women and babies make up the collection of mummies exhibited here.
Going in the museum, we had an idea of what we were about to see, but we never imagined
it would be so shocking.
We were absolutely at a loss for words and it took us a while to take in what we had
just seen.
Well, we just got out of the mummy museum and that was really interesting.
What did you think May?
It was!
I mean, I felt kind of weird being there.
It was also a little sad, but very interesting.
Yeah, it was strange to see people’s corpses on display like that and little babies…
yeah…
We had so many unanswered questions after visiting the museum, and found ourselves having
trouble describing exactly how we felt.
How could the government put a law in place that would eventually disinter an immigrant
doctor who cared for local patients in Guanajuato?
Why didn’t anyone come to claim the other bodies?
Did over a hundred people who ended up in the museum really die alone without anyone
to make sure they could rest in peace?
The Guanajuato Mummy Museum has inspired many films and books over the years,
and it is a must see attraction when you visit this city.
¡Tienes que conocerlo!
I was truly stunned after our visit to the Mummy Museum in Guanajuato.
I couldn’t help but see people walking around as if they were mummies for almost two hours
afterwards.
It was really shocking, but Guanajuato is such a beautiful place that if you have the
chance you really have to check it out.
We are going to be posting more videos about this city and in the meantime, don’t forget
to like and and subscribe to our channel for more travel and language tips.
¡Hasta la próxima!
¡Nos vemos pronto!
We worked up an appetite looking at all those mummies, so we are gonna go get some lunch.