The Mummies of Guanajuato, Mexico

[r0r5ch4ch]

Hey guys,

my parents visited me in the last weeks and we were travelling a lot through Mexico. One of our stops was Guanajuato, which is an amazing, historical place. Pictures of the city will follow. But first I want to share some portraits of the mummies of Guanajuato with you guys.

The Mummies of Guanajuato are a number of naturally mummified bodies interred during a cholera outbreak around Guanajuato, Mexico in 1833.[not verified in body]

The human bodies appear to have been disinterred between 1870 and 1958. During that time, a local tax was in place requiring a fee to be paid for "perpetual" burial. Some bodies for which the tax was not paid were disinterred, and some—apparently those in the best condition—were stored in a nearby building. The climate of Guanajuato provides an environment which can lead to a type of natural mummification, although scientific studies later revealed that some bodies had been at least partially embalmed.[1] By the 1900s[citation needed] the mummies began attracting tourists. Cemetery workers began charging people a few pesos to enter the building where bones and mummies were stored.[not verified in body]

This place was subsequently turned into a museum called El Museo de las Momias ("The Museum of the Mummies") in 1969. As of 2007, 59 mummies were on display, of a collection that totals.

#1:
The Mummies of Guanajuato by Tobias Zimmermann, auf Flickr

#2:
The Mummies of Guanajuato by Tobias Zimmermann, auf Flickr

#3:
The Mummies of Guanajuato by Tobias Zimmermann, auf Flickr

#4:
The Mummies of Guanajuato by Tobias Zimmermann, auf Flickr

#5:
The Mummies of Guanajuato by Tobias Zimmermann, auf Flickr

#6:
The Mummies of Guanajuato by Tobias Zimmermann, auf Flickr

#7:
The Mummies of Guanajuato by Tobias Zimmermann, auf Flickr

#8:
The Mummies of Guanajuato by Tobias Zimmermann, auf Flickr

#9:
The Mummies of Guanajuato by Tobias Zimmermann, auf Flickr


You find more pictures on my flickr album.

Let me know if you have ideas to improve. It was not easy to take pictures there. Flash was not allowed, so I had to tune up the iso.

Also the post processing was hard sometimes. I wanted to make them look kind of personal, but scary and mystical too.

Hope you like them.

Tobias

 

[tirediron]

Man... a moisturizer salesman could make a killing there!



Interesting set; there's not a lot one can say about working under conditions like these. You do the best you can, and that's all you can do.

 

[FITBMX]

Those loot quite good to me, I like the angles you used!

 

[smoke665]

Oh man probably shouldn't have looked at these!! Likely to have some strange dreams tonight.!! Good shots though.

 

[PhotoriousMe]

Man... a moisturizer salesman could make a killing there!

I was laughing so hard at this comment that I must of looked like image #1

Dave

 

[Granddad]

A tax on permanent burials? Let's hope no one in our current governments thinks of that one!

 

[jcdeboever]

I'm calling my mummy today