Rotting Room is the unglamorous translation of “El Pudridero.” When Felipe II designed the gargantuan El Escorial royal complex in the 16th century northwest of Madrid, he practically made it a shrine of death... Located behind the Pantheon walls, accessible only to monks at the Escorial monastery, this is a secretive room accessed by a private passage... It’s here where for at least 20 years mortal kings — and queens who birthed kings — decompose beneath lime until they are completely bone.
Centuries later, the Rotting Room is still in use.
19 March 2017
Word for the day: "Rotting Room"
Before the bodies of Spanish royalty are consigned to their gilded crypts, they are first consigned to a special chamber to allow the flesh to decay.
There was a similar practice in New Orleans prior to the 20th century. They had tombs with a space underneath called a "caveau." A body would be interred in the tomb and then after a period of time, often a year and a day, the tomb would be opened, the body (what was left of it) broken up, put in a sack and placed in the caveau. That way they could inter a lot of individuals in a relatively small space. I was told that there was even a special person who was employed to do the body who had special permission from the Catholic Church.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that. Thanks, Pearse.
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