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#STILLLIFE

photos by Simona De Pascalis

Thoracopagus twins in formalin of the end of the Nineteenth Century in the Vrolik museum in Amsterdam. Founded at the end of the Eighteenth century purchasing the collection of anatomical preparations of scientist Gerardus Vrolik, the museum of the same name is one of the most important museums of medical history in the world.

Thoracopagus twins in formalin of the end of the Nineteenth Century in the Vrolik museum in Amsterdam. Founded at the end of the Eighteenth century purchasing the collection of anatomical preparations of scientist Gerardus Vrolik, the museum of the same name is one of the most important museums of medical history in the world.

In the crypt of the Cathedral of Oria (Brindisi), built in 1484 as a memorial place for those who had fight against the Turkish in Otranto, 22 niches were built to host, in rotation, the mummified corpses of the members of the Confraternita della Morte (the Brotherhood of Death), a company of crusaders composed of people from Oria. The 11 mummies preserved so far date back to the first half of the Nineteenth century (the last mummification of a member of the confraternity dating back to 1858), in spite of the prohibition of embalming and entombment in churches issued by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1806. In the crypt of the Cathedral of Oria (Brindisi), built in 1484 as a memorial place for those who had fight against the Turkish in Otranto, 22 niches were built to host, in rotation, the mummified corpses of the members of the Confraternita della Morte (the Brotherhood of Death), a company of crusaders composed of people from Oria. The 11 mummies preserved so far date back to the first half of the Nineteenth century (the last mummification of a member of the confraternity dating back to 1858), in spite of the prohibition of embalming and entombment in churches issued by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1806. At the end of the Nineteenth century Luigi Grassi, court and puppet theatre scenographer, built and repaired any kind of object in his workshop in Spaccanapoli. One day a woman brought him a broken doll belonging to her daughter and begged him to repair it. “Don’t worry” he said, “this doll will be as good as new”. Nowadays, after more than one hundred years, in the shop in via San Biagio dei Librai in Naples, under the ancient wooden sign “Dolls’ hospital” with the red writing and the same cross of true hospitals, ancient and old dolls are still restored with love and devotion.