ST MICHAN’S CHURCH has released images of its mummies in their crypts after they were partially destroyed following a break-in and fire.
The images show the partially charred and destroyed remains.
A man has been charged after the fire was lit beneath the crypt in the church on Tuesday afternoon, in what the Church of Ireland’s Archbishop of Dublin described as an act of “desecration”.
The Dublin Fire Brigade was alerted by a tour guide who noticed the flames at around 4:30pm. It is believed that the mummies were destroyed by the fire and the water used to extinguish it.
The scene was sealed off yesterday as a forensic investigation took place.
“The mummies are very much part of our continuing history at the heart of the old city of Dublin,” Archbishop Michael Jackson told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme.
“They’ve been there since the Middle Ages. One of them is felt to be the remains of a crusader, the other, perhaps of a nun, and then there would be one or two others.”
In a previous statement, the Archbishop said he was “devastated to say that vandalism has once again struck in the crypt of St Michan’s, Church Street”.
“The Fire Brigade was called and members dealt with the fire. However, significant damage has been done to the mummies,” he said.
“These historic remains are woven into the history of the city of Dublin and emblazoned in the imaginations of visitors and tourists from home and abroad.
We do not yet know what the future is for the mummies as the Archdeacon of Dublin and I fear that they have been destroyed.
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