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Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
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Just who might be buried in those Columbus tombs? |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Monday, 16 May 2005 |
Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times
May 15, 2005
SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC -- It has been nearly two years since Spanish scientists asked to examine the contents of this Caribbean nation's most celebrated tomb to determine whether the centuries-old bones are actually those of Christopher Columbus.
They've been told yes, no and maybe.
The protracted deliberation through two Dominican administrations has deepened suspicions that authorities in Santo Domingo don't really want a definitive answer for fear that the mammoth lighthouse mausoleum they've built into a tourist draw isn't the bona fide resting place of the explorer.
Even those who favor letting modern science settle the matter are loath to concede that they might have invested millions in a case of mistaken identity.
"The researchers should have access. We firmly believe that part of the remains of Columbus are here. That should be proven once and for all to put an end to these polemic debates," Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso said of the conflicting claims by Spain and the Dominican Republic to be in possession of the bones.
In June 2003, the Spanish team headed by forensic expert Jose Antonio Lorente gained unprecedented access to the crypt in the Spanish city of Seville long believed to contain the remains of Columbus. After extracting genetic material from finger bone fragments no larger than peas, the scientists sought to match the DNA samples with those taken from the bones of Columbus' brother, Diego, and other remains suspected to be from his son Hernando, both buried in Seville.
Cross-checking the genetic material proved inconclusive. The researchers, who had first sought access to the Dominican bones at the same time they opened the Spanish crypt, renewed their petition to the government in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital, in October in hopes of finding more intact samples in the chest-like tomb that Dominicans believe holds Columbus' remains. Their request was rejected.
Confusion over which country -- if either -- has the remains has persisted for more than a century.
Columbus died May 20, 1506, in Valladolid, Spain, and was buried there despite having written in his last will and testament that he wanted to be interred in his beloved Hispaniola, the name he gave to the island now shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti when he first saw it in 1492. At the time of his death, no site was deemed worthy of hosting the "admiral of the world's oceans."
A purported journey
In 1537, Maria de Toledo, the widow of Columbus' eldest son, also named Diego, sailed to Santo Domingo with her husband's remains and those of the disinterred explorer. Both were entombed at the newly completed cathedral there, where they remained until Spain ceded Hispaniola to France in 1795.
Thus his purported journey back to Spain began. A royal Spanish delegation came to evacuate national treasures and moved what it thought were the Columbus crypts to Havana, then the center of Spain's colonial dominion. When Cuba won independence in 1898, the remains were relocated to the cathedral of Seville.
Meanwhile, during 1877 renovations at the cathedral in Santo Domingo, workers discovered an unmarked metal trunk hidden behind a wall. Inside were the bones of a tall person and an inscription: "The Illustrious and Distinguished Baron, Don Cristobal Colon," the Spanish name of the lanky explorer.
Keepers of the Columbus legacy insist that the Spaniards took the wrong tomb in their haste to get away ahead of the French takeover. To protect against pirates and invaders who plundered Caribbean ports during the colonial era, they say, priests at the cathedral in Santo Domingo had scrubbed off identifying marks from the coffins of the colony's founders.
"There is ample evidence established in studies done by archeologists that there was confusion about what was transported from Santo Domingo," said Sulamita Puig, the Culture Ministry official charged with granting access to international investigators. "The real tomb was left here. We are not mistaken."
She said she had decided to put forensic expert Lorente's petition on hold until more promising research techniques were developed to ensure that any handling of the bones would produce definitive identification.
"We don't believe it is proper to risk contamination or deterioration when there are no grounds to expect a conclusive outcome," she said.
Before a change in the Dominican government last year, the Spanish researchers were told they could examine the remains once the Seville tests were concluded. A Feb. 15 date was set by a now defunct commission. In late January, Puig's office announced that more discussions would be necessary before the crypt could be opened.
"There were a lot of misunderstandings about what could be done," Puig said of the flip-flop. She said only a visual investigation had been authorized whereas the Spaniards were expecting to be able to collect DNA samples.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5402895.html |
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Taphophilia?
taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)
ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"
DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries
Quote Repository
“Come lovely and soothing death, Undulate round the world, serenely arriving, arriving, In the day, in the night, to all, to each, Sooner or later, delicate death.” Walt Whitman
Shirtless and Sculpted
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