WHEN ARP SCHNITGER, A RENOWNED organ maker working in Germany in the late 17th century, was assigned a portion of the basement crypt of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Bremen to work on, he did not expect to find the mummified remains of not one but eight residents. from the German city.
The crypt is located below the nave of the cathedral and was originally used to store lead that was used for renovations to the roof and other structures, giving the chamber its name: Bleikeller. Lead or dry air from the crypt or a combination of factors is believed to have caused the natural mummification of the corpses, some of which are believed to date back around 400 years.
From the moment they were discovered, the mummies have been a source of curiosity for locals and visitors alike. An 1859 Harper’s New Monthly Magazine article tells the story of a tourist looking for them.
The mummies were placed in glass-topped coffins, and today they can be accessed through a separate entrance in the church complex. Each of them has their own story to tell: the body of a man who was mortally wounded and has his mouth open as if screaming; a Swedish general and his assistant; an English countess, identified in some places as Lady Stanhope; a murdered student; a citizen of Bremen named Konrad Ehlers; and the last Swedish administrator of the cathedral, Georg Bernhard von Engelbrechten, and his wife.
