Catacombs, Convento dei Cappucini, Palermo

Photography Studio Eugenio Interguglielmi & Company Italian

ca. 1895

Not on view

More than eight thousand embalmed corpses line the walls of the capuchin convent in Palermo, Sicily. They are organized by gender, age, and even profession, according to the same class and social hierarchies that shaped their lives. Here a blinding light shines on rows of clergy adorned in their finest vestments, bringing the spectacle of death to life. The crypt was already a popular tourist destination in the nineteenth century, and photographs like this one offered visitors a macabre souvenir of what a contemporaneous guidebook described as "truly disgusting."

Artwork Details

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Exhibition History

Title: Catacombs, Convento dei Cappucini, Palermo
Artist: Eugenio Interguglielmi (Italian, Palermo 1850–1911 Palermo)
Photography Studio: Eugenio Interguglielmi & Company (Italian, active 1895–1981)
Date: ca. 1895
Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions: 18.6 x 25.3 cm (7 5/16 x 9 15/16 in. )
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Funds from various donors, 2000
Object Number: 2000.134
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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