St Michan's mummified remains destroyed by fire

Cluedo Monopoly

Very sad. Deliberate too. Such a shame.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2024/0611/1454267-st-michans-church/

Five mummified remains destroyed in Dublin crypt fire.

An investigation is under way after a man set fire to the crypt at St Michan's Church of Ireland in Dublin.

The vicar of the church said five mummified remains were destroyed during the efforts to put the blaze out before it took hold.

some random drunk

You'd have to wonder if it's the same guy who tried to destroy them previously and went to jail for it a couple of years ago.

Either way it's incredibly disappointing that this cultural vandalism has 1. occurred and 2. that lessons weren't learned from the previous attempt.

Edit to add 12.06.2024: He's just been named on RTE and it's not the same guy.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0612/1454331-st-michans-church-dublin/

buried

Disgraceful $hit. Whoever is responsible for the repeated attacks on this historical structure needs to be locked up for a long time.

SupaCat95

The last lad got left off light because he had "mental health problems" and he was given a fools pardon. Society really needs to get tough on that sort of thing. Open Spike Island back up again and 50 laps around the Island before breakfast every morning will do a lot of curing instead of this Butlins approach of Castlerea and Arbour hill.

SupaCat95

Its the same sort of crap artists that did the Freemasons Hall in Molesworth and that church in Cork.

buried

I went to see this church on a solo historical walkabout of Dublin city centre back in January 2019. It was like visiting a mini peaceful walled oasis right in the centre of the most hectic and busy part of Dublin. Whatever gadge has a problem with this place is seriously wrong and needs to be treated as such.

magicbastarder

this is a horrendous shame; one of the most iconic pieces of dublin history destroyed.

Len_007

I remember going there as a kid, a crying shame

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122248139#Comment_122248139

I was there on a school tour in the 80s and it was fascinating. I visited it once when I lived in Dublin.

Strumms

the last fella I’m reading who robbed the heads was given a custodial sentence by Martin Nolan of all people…but got kid gloves treatment because of ‘mintil hilth’ issues..

If, it’s a repeat performance of sorts I’d say even the Nolan fella would go to town on them… Arson is no joke.

Fond memories too of being brought there as a kid both a school tour and my family….

TheValeyard

Vandalism. Trying to wreck history.

Do we have a motive or anything?

hoodie6029

I can’t understand people who kick the heads off flowers or think pointing a shotgun at another creature and pulling the trigger is a worthwhile use of time.
What is going through the head of someone who burns down a derelict building? I don’t know. But how someone doesn’t pause when they are about to burn human remains and about to burn down a medieval church is beyond me.

pretty boy floyd

St Michans is such a unique place. I visited as a young lad and was amazed. A few years ago I returned with my wife (as an emigrant) and we were shown around, along with other tourists, by an eccentric but very well informed guide. To have done this to the place is just so depressing.

REDBULL68

Sickened by this destruction of our heritage, I thought they had it secured, as was reported at the time ,to stop future destruction, but obviously not ,

lmao10

What would have been the motivation to target it? I'm not well versed on the situation.

Hangdogroad

How do scrotes keep breaking into the place?

Hamsterchops

Good question as we don't have full details yet, but its possible the arsonist struck during an afternoon tour of the vaults (crypts), when the hatches to both are open as tourist's follow the guide leaving one to enter the other, or maybe it was a break-in with an angle grinder or crowbar? We'll have to wait to hear the full details. Apparently most of the damage is from water (one foot deep) to put out the fire. Sounds like the end of the tourist attraction to me, with the five main mummies destroyed for eternity and all the other coffins & remains sloshing about in water.

Modulok

I first heard of these mummies when they were mentioned in a Victorian ghost story by the horror novelist MR James (Lost Hearts). Imagine, they were there for hundreds of years until one non-entity wrecked them. He should be mummified to take their place!

Goodigal

Was just talking to my son about this. Infuriating that one individual can destroy what's an amazing attraction in the middle of my city.

tohaltuwi

It is a horrendous fact that centuries of history can be destroyed in one moment by either forces of nature, or at the hands of one single individual whose mindset is focussed on the destroy button. One Single Person.

tohaltuwi

listening to the news, it happened during a tour.

Baba Yaga

was in there a few times,as someone above said so peaceful and also so fascinating,one of them was supposed to be one of the crusaders,was he damaged again? such a shame some of our history has been destroyed…maybe (hopefully) the damage can be repaired…? and hopefully (wishful thinking) the fcukwit that did this serves a proper sentence…

Leg End Reject

I'll never understand people who deliberately destroy things, nevermind historical remains.

Forget mickey mouse prison sentences, I'd impose a lifelong 25% reduction on all gross income including all social welfare payments - children's allowance, living alone and fuel allowances etc, the lot. That would then be given to agencies who preserve historical and cultural buildings, artifacts and remains. No ifs, ands, buts or sob stories and I'd include the Just Stop Oil idiots in that too.

A scumbag just destroyed nearly 1000 years of history, it's equally senseless and infuriating.

whisky_galore

What T actual F is wrong with people that do this? Scribbling on a passage grave? Throwing paint over the Lia Fail and hacking pieces off it? Are they mentally ill?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122248988#Comment_122248988

"Archdeacon Pierpoint said the mummified bodies have been "destroyed" and "damaged beyond repair," and said he will ask the National Museum to carry out an inspection of the crypt and the mummies."

It seems from this that the crusader remains have been destroyed. An awful thing, no punishment of the idiot who did this will undo the damage done.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122248988#Comment_122248988

It's far worse this time. Looks like the 800 year old crusader mummy has actually been destroyed. From what I'm reading they used a lot of water to put the fire out, so the mummies were submerged.

There really is nothing worse than seeing cultural destruction of something during your lifetime when it's been there for hundreds of years. History let down by our generation.

Baba Yaga

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122249198#Comment_122249198

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122249203#Comment_122249203

ah crap…near a thousand years of history gone,thats so fcukin sad

10000maniacs

Why was there no security guard protecting the building?

Such a shame when history goes up in flames.

Historians are still grieving about the Customs House fire a hundred years ago. Although to be fair, millions of rare Irish historical artifacts were destroyed in that fire.

Why did god allow this to happen?

HerrKapitan

Im surprised the far right have not jumped on this, trying to say it was an offended muslim refugee.

Although i doubt they have the IQ to know about the crusades.

z80CPU

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122249360#Comment_122249360

All their mental faculties are dedicated to being as woke with the gang as possible. No more capacity for history or anything else.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122249338#Comment_122249338

Ah sure look, it might not be as disastrous as the burning of the custom's house for sure, but it's still an important piece of our city that's been there for hundreds of years that's now potentially lost to future generations.

In typical fashion, I only live around the corner myself and never visited. Did want to go after the last incident but I thought it was still all closed up to visitors! 😥

silverharp

"A man" oh that guy again, if he isnt that dodgy taxi guy again or that arsonist lol

Hamsterchops

On answer to #26, Yes indeed, as I mentioned in #17 the water possibly did more damage than the fire itself?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122249346#Comment_122249346

Keep fighting the good fight, brother.

miamee

I have lived in Dublin for most of my life and would say I have been to most historical sights and buildings in the city thanks to things like Culture Night, Open House and just an interest in it between myself and some friends. St. Michan's was one of those places I had never gotten around to visiting but it has always been on my "I must do that some day" list. A lesson for us all is not to leave these things on the long finger. Just because something has been around for hundreds or thousands of years, doesn't mean that some gombeen in 2024 or beyond isn't going to ruin it all for the rest of us. There's also the possibility of accidental destruction like Notre Dame in Paris.

Go and see the sights and do the things on your doorstep, plan one for this weekend!

Dial Hard

It won't surprise me in the least if this turns out to be that absolute head the ball who put his fist through the Monet in the National Gallery or the guy who rammed the front gates of Trinity.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122249757#Comment_122249757

Did you know some lunatic walked into The National Gallery London with a shotgun in 1988 and blasted Da Vinci's Virgin and Child with Saint Anne drawing?

I've looked at it so many times in person and never knew. The work restorers can do is amazing.

Doubt you can do much for a soggy mummy though 😥

8mv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122249203#Comment_122249203

Very sad and infuriating. Done by someone who has nothing constructive to offer society.

I visited as part of a school trip many years ago - back in the early seventies - as far as I can remember, we were encouraged to shake hands with The Crusader - it was considered to bring good luck.

Grayson

One thing to remember is that the place is full of addicts. I used to work next door and the graveyard out back is somewhere they go to shoot up. It wasn't unusual to see ambulances called because someone had overdosed.

magicbastarder

There's graffiti in Newgrange that's 150 years old. It's not as if we're in a new age of philistinism.

Strumms

I’d imagine it’s going to mean that jobs are lost too, that can’t be overlooked…tour guides etc…

Quitelife

people can do what they want these days - no prison space

donaghs

Very sad news, I saw them years ago. I guess we need more protection for heritage in future.
Blaming the water is silly, as the water wouldn’t be there if the fire hadn’t been started. The Fire Brigade are obliged to put out the fire to stop it spreading.

hustlenbustle

im so sad this has happened, I visited there first as a child of 9 with my aunt and found it to be amazing. At the time you could touch the finger of the corpse. I’ve visited many times since as and adult. It’s horrible to think some even thinks of doing this! I mean why??????

micks_address

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122249863#Comment_122249863

dehumidifier? pity that it has happened.. something 800 years old just ruined in an instant

Nermal

Sentence the perpetrator to be turned into a mummy and displayed for the next 800 years, to educate visitors of the consequences of vandalism.

Cluedo Monopoly

The vaults were ransacked and set on fire in 1996 too.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0709/800660-desecration-of-st-michans-church/

Vandals destroy mummified human remains in the vault of the oldest church in Dublin’s north city.

Founded in 1095 St Michan’s is home to around 80 mummified bodies. The human remains are preserved by dry-cold air in vaults underneath the church. On the night of 8 July 1996 smoke was seen billowing from one of the vaults.

techman1

Im surprised the far right have not jumped on this, trying to say it was an offended muslim refugee.

Although i doubt they have the IQ to know about the crusades.

Well who ever done it Muslim or not has a very low iq

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122250068#Comment_122250068

Graffiti isn't quite setting the place on fire and then drowning the contents in water though. 😅

There Turks did blow up the Parthenon in 1687 though I suppose…

interlocked

I was there just over a month ago. I hadn't been since I was a kid.

I had always wanted to go back and I happened to be in Dublin, and on the Luas at the Four Courts. So I called in on spec. A lovely woman was on duty and she said that the next tour was in half a hour, so I waited. Our guide was a Kerryman, a fountain of knowledge and as enthusiastic as a Kerry captain lifting the Sam Maguire , most of the rest of the group were tourists, apart from a young Dublin couple. The vaults were padlocked and had to be unlocked by the guide, who also locked the open doors with a bicycle lock whilst we were in there. To stop anyone from locking us in whilst we were down there, he explained. He also replaced the padlocks after exiting. He also explained the story of the previous attack on the vaults.

We entered two separate vaults. It was a brilliant little tour, with a huge amount of knowledge imparted, from Bram Stoker, to the crusades, the vault of the Earl of Leitrim, so despised that dozens of police had to be employed to stop his coffin being dispatched into the Liffey, by Leitrim people, following his funeral. None of the rest of his family would agree to share his resting place following his death.

The mummies weren't actually originally buried in the vaults, they were discovered under the floor of the church and relocated. All the vaults are owned by different families, many, possibly extinct, which is why they remain untouched by the church.

Then there was the coffins of the Shears brothers, executed following the 1798 rebellion. Resting behind them was the death mask of Robert Emmett, On the wall was the remains of a wreath, laid on the centenary. The moisture from this wreath caused such decay that the bodies of the brothers had to be placed in sealed coffins. And much, much more.

Such a loss of history, at least the second vault containing the Shears should be intact.