Figure 1: Julius Wilhelm Freiherr von Crailsheim, chest master of the canton Altmühl Valley and Patrimonal-Judge at Sommersdorf-Thann. He was deadly wounded in a hunting accident in 1812 and buried in the crypt.
Figure 2: The identity of the mummy is unclear, probably it’s a lady “von Rauber”
Figure 3: Baroness Luise von Schenck by Geyern, née Baroness von Crailsheim.
Figure 4: Baroness Sophie Luise von Kniestätt, née Baroness von Crailsheim. She died only 42 years old after stillbirth of her eighth child of childbed fever. Bent arms and cramped hands lead to the suspicion, that she was buried alive.
Figure 5: Baron von Holz, a relative of the Crailsheim family. He was given refuge during the 30-year war at Schloss Sommersdorf. He died under mysterious circumstances. Freiherr von Holz is unusually tall. He was buried in is high cuff boots. The corpse is well preserved.
More information, see “The Sommersdorf mummies—An interdisciplinary investigation on human remains from a 17th-19th century aristocratic crypt in southern Germany”
EXCITING RESEARCH
International Exhibitions
Research Article: Amelie Alterauge, Manuel Kellinghaus, Christian Jackowski, Natallia Shved, Frank Rühli, Frank Maixner, Albert Zink, Wilfried Rosendahl, Sandra Lösch “The Sommersdorf mummies—An interdisciplinary investigation on human remains from a 17th-19th century aristocratic crypt in southern Germany”.
The exhibition started t in 2008 in the REM-Museum at Mannheim/Germany, then Bolzano/Italy, Kassel//Germany, finally from 2010 to January 2018 in several cities in the United States. The exhibition now is in Prague, later in Budapest.
More information about the exhibition “Mummies of the world”.