MEXICO CITY (AP) — Experts restoring the interior of Mexico City’s Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral Friday uncovered 23 lead boxes containing religious inscriptions, small paintings and relics such as tree and palm crosses. said he did.
The lead vessel was about the size of a mint box and had an inscription dedicated to a particular saint. A handwritten note found on his one of them suggests they were previously found and reburied in his 1810.
The note states that one of the boxes was found in 1810 by a group of stonemasons and painters, and whoever found it was asked to “pray for the soul.”
They were found in cathedral lanterns, niches carved into the base walls of narrow skylights above the domes. The niche was covered with clay panels and hidden under plaster.
Experts say the two were found on December 30 while working to restore the plaster. The National Institute of Anthropology and History said they may have been placed there to provide divine protection for cathedrals and cities.
The institute said that once they were cataloged, the boxes and their contents would be returned to the niche and covered again with plaster.
The cathedral was built in a process that spanned centuries from 1573 to 1813. One of the reasons the construction took so long is that as soon as construction began, the huge, heavy building began to sink into the soft subsoil that characterizes the city.
This is not the first time that relics have been found buried in the walls of the cathedral.
In 2008, researchers found a time capsule from 1791 sitting on top of the cathedral’s bell tower.
On May 14, 1791, 218 years after construction began, when the building’s top stone was laid, a lead box filled with religious relics, coins, and parchments was placed into a hollow stone ball. was placed.
A perfectly preserved parchment inside the box described the contents of the time capsule, which included 23 medals, 5 coins and 5 small palm crosses. The parchment reads, “Everything is for protection against the storm.”