Museo de las Momias

© Anne Heusel

Whilst planning a forthcoming trip to Mexico, I was sent these macabre images by Anne Heusel, from a museum in the small village of Guanajuato, in the north-west of the country. The infamous Museo de las Momias contains disinterred corpses from the public cemetery. Between 1896 and 1958 the bodies of families who could no longer afford to pay the ‘grave tax’ for their plot would be disinterred. Due to the specific soil and climate conditions, many of the corpses were found mummified and strangely contorted. In 1900 some of the best ones were put on display in the local museum, where visitors could pay a few pesos to see them. The tradition continues, although no new mummies have been added since the grave tax was abandoned.�