![Je regardais avec une sorte de vertige cette ronde qui m’environnait, immobile et convulsive à la fois […] Les visages effrayants, cette foule de têtes sinistres ou terribles. Source: Sud-Ouest
Victor Hugo writing about his visit to the St Michel Basilique and the 74 mummified corpses which he found in the crypt. The mummies were dug up from around the main church in 1791 when it was decided to move all the sépultures to the central Bordeaux cemetery at Chartreuse but these 74 humain remains were in such good condition that the church decided to set up a rather grotesque display in the bell tower’s crypt. The mummies were seated in a circle around the crypt and for a number of years were a major tourist attraction. Victor Hugo popped in for a visit but so did Stendhal, Théophile Gautier ou Gustave Flaubert. It wasn’t until 1979 that the local authorities decided to give the mummies a slightly more respectful and anonymous resting place in the cemetery at Chartreuses. However many residents of the St Michel quartier regret the fact that their ‘treasure’ was spirited away by the authorities and tourists still come to visit the crypt to breathe in the ghostly atmosphere.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l7ahlz17g31qbdpfco1_500.jpg)
Je regardais avec une sorte de vertige cette ronde qui m’environnait, immobile et convulsive à la fois […] Les visages effrayants, cette foule de têtes sinistres ou terribles. Source: Sud-Ouest
Victor Hugo writing about his visit to the St Michel Basilique and the 74 mummified corpses which he found in the crypt. The mummies were dug up from around the main church in 1791 when it was decided to move all the sépultures to the central Bordeaux cemetery at Chartreuse but these 74 humain remains were in such good condition that the church decided to set up a rather grotesque display in the bell tower’s crypt. The mummies were seated in a circle around the crypt and for a number of years were a major tourist attraction. Victor Hugo popped in for a visit but so did Stendhal, Théophile Gautier ou Gustave Flaubert. It wasn’t until 1979 that the local authorities decided to give the mummies a slightly more respectful and anonymous resting place in the cemetery at Chartreuses. However many residents of the St Michel quartier regret the fact that their ‘treasure’ was spirited away by the authorities and tourists still come to visit the crypt to breathe in the ghostly atmosphere.
