The Mummies at Museo de El Carmen

This former monastery school and chapel were built between 1615 and 1628 by Carmelite friars.

The building that used to house the monastery school now contains a collection of Colonial religious art. In the crypt below the school you can find 12 mummified bodies of former parishioners. The bodies were left in the crypt after the school secularized and was finally abandoned in 1861. Due to soil conditions the bodies dehydrated and naturally mummified.

The mummies were discovered by members of the Liberation Army of the South looking for monastic treasures during the Revolution. The soldiers left the mummies in place, but left the crypt uncovered. Over the following years, the bodies were rediscovered by people secretly exploring the decrepit building and became famous among the locals. In 1929 the mummies were placed in their velvet-lined wood and glass caskets that are still in use today. In 2012, the crypt was fully restored and opened to the public.