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:
““But thou, O King, I bid remember me, unwept, unburied,
“Heap up mine arms, be tomb by sea-bord, and inscribed:
“A man of no fortune, and with a name to come.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.”
—Bible: New Testament St. John the Divine, in Revelation, 8:1.