Five medieval mummies have been destroyed in a deliberate fire in Dublin.
The preserved remains were in the crypt of a Dublin church and have likely been damaged beyond repair.
They were damaged by the fire and water used to douse the flames, a church official said on Wednesday.
The five sets of remains, preserved for hundreds of years in the crypt of the 11th century St. Michan’s Church in central Dublin, include those of a crusader and are a tourist attraction in the city.
The vaults contain many mummified remains including those of brothers Henry and John Seares, executed by the English for leading the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
The remains of many of Dublin’s most influential 17th, 18th and 19th Century families are also entombed in St Michan’s.
An intruder broke into the crypt on Tuesday afternoon and started the fire and firefighters used water to put it out, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Michael Jackson, told RTE radio.
“The combination of fire and water have done significant damage to the mummies... I honestly don’t know exactly what the extent of that is, but my fear like that of others is that the damage is irreparable,” Jackson said.
The remains are due to be examined by experts from the National Museum of Ireland to see if anything can be salvaged, he said.
Archdeacon of Dublin and Vicar of St Michan’s Church David Pierpoint told The BBC: “It’s disastrous for Dublin, its disastrous for history and it’s disastrous for the parish.
“The parish depends on income from our tourists and if we’ve no crypts to show people the various things that are down under the ground, then we have very little money coming in.”
He added that he thought the mummies were “beyond repair.”
A man was arrested for an alleged offence under the Criminal Damage Act 1991.
In 2019, vandals decapitated an 800-year-old skeleton known as the Crusader which was beneath the very same church.
The skull was later recovered. Several of the mummies were desecrated in the incident, according to the Church of Ireland.
