The cry "Bring out your dead!" apparently signified the passing of certain carts during the plague years, specifically tasked to remove the diseased deceased to mass graves. A quick and efficient disposal of human remains was paramount to the public health in those dark days.
Fortunately such times are past us in the industrial world. We, however, bring out our dead to be gawked at. In museums.
The (excellent) exhibition "Kingship & Sacrifice" in the National Museum of Ireland has been at the receiving end of some criticism regarding the display of human remains. A very small minority amongst the thousands of visitors filing past the "bog bodies" have objected to the display. Mainly based on the notion that human remains should always be afforded a decent burial and never be put on show. But just how exceptional is "Kingship & Sacrifice", can this exhibition be singled out?
Not really, I think - a bog body has been on display in the National Museum for ages. The special exhibition has only added more bodies, including some recent finds. And Egyptian mummies (albeit unwrapped) could be inspected here as well. Maybe the far more recognizeable faces of the newer bog bodies sparked off fresh sensitivities?
Across the Liffey, in Saint Michan's Church, several mummified bodies are on display - for a fee you can come face to face with a crusader or a nun. Here the argument could be raised that the dead should not provide entertainment. While the National Museum might defend its displays on the grounds of "science" and "learning", this is much harder underneath the Northside church.
Other churches might consider themselves lucky that no such worldly measurements are usually applied to relics, from St. Laurence O'Toole's heart in Christ Church Cathedral to the assorted body parts of St. Oliver Plunkett in several locations. Protests against the public display of saints' bodies (or parts thereof) are rare, the tour of the remains of St. Theresa through Ireland was a real crowd-puller.
Saints, sinners or pre-Chistian sacrifices, the question remains the same - should human remains be put on display outside the confines of a medical faculty? And where are the tresholds that should not be crossed? Is the thighbone of an executed clergyman different from the torso of a drowned Celtic noble or the mummified but complete body of a thief? To me it seems to be but a small step from veneration to morbid curiosity ...
I'd be interested in your opinion on this - why not leave a comment?
Fortunately such times are past us in the industrial world. We, however, bring out our dead to be gawked at. In museums.
The (excellent) exhibition "Kingship & Sacrifice" in the National Museum of Ireland has been at the receiving end of some criticism regarding the display of human remains. A very small minority amongst the thousands of visitors filing past the "bog bodies" have objected to the display. Mainly based on the notion that human remains should always be afforded a decent burial and never be put on show. But just how exceptional is "Kingship & Sacrifice", can this exhibition be singled out?
Not really, I think - a bog body has been on display in the National Museum for ages. The special exhibition has only added more bodies, including some recent finds. And Egyptian mummies (albeit unwrapped) could be inspected here as well. Maybe the far more recognizeable faces of the newer bog bodies sparked off fresh sensitivities?
Across the Liffey, in Saint Michan's Church, several mummified bodies are on display - for a fee you can come face to face with a crusader or a nun. Here the argument could be raised that the dead should not provide entertainment. While the National Museum might defend its displays on the grounds of "science" and "learning", this is much harder underneath the Northside church.
Other churches might consider themselves lucky that no such worldly measurements are usually applied to relics, from St. Laurence O'Toole's heart in Christ Church Cathedral to the assorted body parts of St. Oliver Plunkett in several locations. Protests against the public display of saints' bodies (or parts thereof) are rare, the tour of the remains of St. Theresa through Ireland was a real crowd-puller.
Saints, sinners or pre-Chistian sacrifices, the question remains the same - should human remains be put on display outside the confines of a medical faculty? And where are the tresholds that should not be crossed? Is the thighbone of an executed clergyman different from the torso of a drowned Celtic noble or the mummified but complete body of a thief? To me it seems to be but a small step from veneration to morbid curiosity ...
I'd be interested in your opinion on this - why not leave a comment?
The idea of decency–especially concerning what you do with your dead–varies considerably with the evolution of cultures. An archaeologist is always aware of this variability.
When a culture or a religion decides it’s better to bury folks in a common crypt, that’s when the real fun starts. In the Capela dos Ossos in Evora, Portugal, the monks fully intended the display of remains to be viewed as a moral lesson, having carved into the entrance, “Our bones that are here await yours!” as a means of reminding folks that life is but a transient stop and the spiritual is something else altogether.
Beyond that, they’re just bones. Unless, as you point out, they’re splintered off the shin of a saint. Then your spiritual elite parade them with great fanfare before the swooning faithful on very special days.
The idea of entertainment, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.
james
Morbid curiosity is great for tourism! While many flock to see Lenin’s body out of veneration, many more come to see that waxy corpse for the goosepimples. In Brno, Czech Republic, the Capuchin Crypt is downright creepy. Whether or not it’s right to display bodies or body parts, what does it say about those of us who wait in line to see them as if we’re at a theme park?
The British Museum in London remains eternally popular with its Egyptian mummies. It seems we all have a fascination for dead bodies! Two huge exhibitions in London this winter are The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army at the British Museum and Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at The O2.
The catacombs outside Rome and the capuchin crypt in the historic center are very popular tourist attractions. There are a number of catacombs open to the public in Italy and there are mummy museums in several towns where bodies have been naturally mummified. There seems to be lots of interest in seeing dead bodies in Italy.
I visited Verdun, France, last month. This huge WWI battlefield includes a monument/ossuary to honor and preserve the remains of over 130,000 fallen, unknown French soldiers. (There is a cemetery for the soldiers they did identify.) Visitors can see stacks and stacks of skulls, femurs and more through small windows. A beautiful chapel and many memorial panels occupy the top floor.
Do we visit to gawk at creepy bones? To honor fallen men? To show our children why war is horrible? To pray for those who fell defending France? To pass the time on a Sunday afternoon? Each person has a reason for visiting L’Ossuaire; I can’t say whether my reasons are “better” than yours. For those who visit a place like this, regardless of motivation, the sense of walking on hallowed ground surrounds each person. No one runs, no one shouts.
And, no one objects.