The exhibit in Vac Hungary is the result of a mummy bonanza discovered during a routine restoration of the town’s Dominican church. In 1994 workers discovered a secret crypt, bricked up for over 200 years. Inside, there were 265 hand-painted coffins, one on top of the other, in order of size. Inside, the occupants had naturally mummified, due to perfect conditions of temperature and aridity.

It wasn’t simply their bodies that were so well-preserved. Everything from the rosaries to the handmade stockings on their feet was equally intact. This offers a gold mine for ethnographers on the funerary customs and everyday life of 18th-century Hungarian villages.

There was something there for doctors as well: traces of ancient tuberculosis. An Australian surgeon, Dr. Mark Spigelman, has devoted years to studying the bacteria found in one mummy in particular. The information gleaned from this ancient DNA could give information that will help fight tuberculosis.

Hand-painted coffins

The real delight of the mummies exhibited in Vac, Hungary isn’t the shriveled bodies and stretched skin, it’s the coffins themselves. A huge choice of the coffins on display, many stacked on top of each other in the same formation they had been found in.

Each coffin had been lovingly hand-painted with crucifixes, flowers, quotations, bible verses, angels, skull and crossbones, hourglasses, and Memento Mori inscriptions.

No coffin is a repeat of another. The variety of colors, decorations, motifs, and even language (some in German, some in Hungarian, some in Latin) is simply incredible. The coffins seem to be painted with an almost joyous hand, celebrating the life of the deceased. One coffin, belonging to a child, has paintings of bones, skulls, and a miner’s pick and shovel. Each coffin has a personalized touch, applied with great thought and care.

The artifacts from the church crypt are on display at the Memento Mori Museum next to the church on the square.

One can read Memento Mori as a dark warning: Don’t forget that you will die. But in the art of these beautiful coffins, it’s read in a very different way.

Nestled in the charming city of Vác, the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin and St Michael the Archangel, commonly known as the Vác Cathedral, stands as a testament to Hungary’s rich religious and architectural heritage. This magnificent edifice serves as the cathedral of the Diocese of Vác, a diocese with roots stretching back to its foundation in 1004 under Stephen I.

The cathedral we see today is the fifth structure to grace this site, with the first cathedral dating back to 1074. However, the original building was destroyed during the Mongol invasions of the fourteenth century. The Ottoman occupation of Hungary saw the last remnants of the wall collapse, leaving only residues that are visible even today.

It wasn’t until the departure of the Turks that the construction of a new church was possible. The cornerstone of the current cathedral was laid in 1761, and by 1772, the cathedral was consecrated, though the work continued until its completion in 1777. Designed by the Austrian architect Isidore Canevale, the cathedral is one of the largest in Hungary and reflects the grandeur of the Baroque style.

The cathedral has also been a witness to miracles and tribulations. In 1944, during World War II, a Soviet bomb struck the dome but miraculously did not detonate, an event that parishioners remember as a divine intervention.

Today, the Vác Cathedral not only serves as a place of worship but also as a historical monument, attracting visitors from around the world who come to admire its architectural beauty and delve into its storied past. It stands as a symbol of resilience and faith, a beacon of hope that has endured through centuries of turmoil and change.