Tomb Opened
In 1952, her sarcophagus was opened by craftsmen while in the midst of doing restoration work. The parish priest at Covarrubias, Father Rufino Vargas Blanco, was shown a piece of written parchment that was found in the casket. The lid was replaced, later to be officially opened in 1958, partially based upon a 1757 church manuscript that indicated this as the resting place of Infanta Christina. (The year 1958 marked 700 years since the marriage officiation).
Archaeologists and historians, Manuel Ayala and Jose Luis Monteverde, were employed to interpret the data. The limestone is from Hontoria. The fabrics within the casket were shown to be from the 1200s. The report by doctors Maximiliano Gutierrez and Gabriel Escudero stated:
A partially mummified skeleton with a length of 1.72 m (5 ft 6") — skull is small and all the
teeth are well preserved with no evidence of caries...Everything points to a skeleton of a woman
of high stature, young and strong...
Read more about this topic: Christina Of Norway, Infanta Of Castile
Famous quotes containing the words tomb and/or opened:
“Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,
Bound for the prize of all too precious you,
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inherse,
Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew?
Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write
Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The season developed and matured. Another year’s installment of flowers, leaves, nightingales, thrushes, finches, and such ephemeral creatures, took up their positions where only a year ago others had stood in their place when these were nothing more than germs and inorganic particles. Rays from the sunrise drew forth the buds and stretched them into long stalks, lifted up sap in noiseless streams, opened petals, and sucked out scents in invisible jets and breathings.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)