The so-called ‘Leiden Mummy’ was found during 1979 restoration work in the deconsecrated Pieterskerk, a late Gothic church founded in 1390 in Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands. The mummified corpse lay amid wood shavings, his head resting on a pillow, beneath nave floorboards laid in 1860, and is thought to have been a pipe smoker who died in his fifties. However, the man’s identity remains unknown as the foundation which now runs the former church decided to put the mummy on public display rather than subject it to scientific scrutiny.
Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands: the so-called ‘Leiden Mummy’ was found in 1979 beneath nave floorboards in the Pieterskerk, a late Gothic church founded in 1390 which had been deconsecrated in 1971. Many important Leiden people were buried in the Pieterskerk, including 17th century Dutch Golden Age painter Jan Steen, scientist Herman Boerhaave, theologian Jacobus Arminius and John Robinson, pastor to the Pilgrim Fathers. However, the identity of the ‘mummy’ remains unknown as the foundation that took over the church’s management after it was deconsecrated decided to put it on permanent public display rather than subject it to scientific scrutiny. The man was found amid wood shavings, his head resting on a pillow, beneath floorboards which were laid in 1860, which may indicate the approximate date of the interment. The only other clues to his identity are that he was probably a pipe smoker who died in his fifties.
Size: 2000px × 3008px
Location: Pieterskerk, Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1860, 19th, 50s, anonymous, beneath, body, burial, cadaver, case, century, church, corpse, corpses, , dead, death, deathly, decomposed, decomposition, deconsecrated, desiccated, display, displayed, dried, dutch, empty, europe, exhibit, eye, fifties, floor, floorboards, glass, gothic, grin, grinning, halloween, head, heads, holland, human, interment, interred, kerr, late, leiden, leyden, male, man, missing, mummified, mummy, nave, netherlands, pieterskerk, pillow, pipe, public, remains, resting, skeleton, skin, skull, skulls, smiling, smoker, sockets, south, teeth, terence, unidentified
