There are many old churches in Dublin, but few have a secret beneath them quite like St. Michan’s Church.
Walk through the church today and you are looking at a place of worship with centuries of history. Walk down into its crypts, however, and the character of the place changes completely.
There, in underground stone vaults, generations of Dublin's dead were placed in their coffins.
Some of them did not decay in the usual way.
Instead, their bodies became naturally preserved.
Their skin dried. Their bodies shrank. Their clothing remained in some cases. Coffins that have been closed for hundreds of years still contain recognizable human remains.
And perhaps most remarkable of all, these people were not deliberately mummified.
Nature did it.
Where is St. Michan’s?
St. Michan’s stands on Church Street on the north side of central Dublin, in the historic area now known as Dublin 7.
St Michan’s Church
The church remains a Church of Ireland place of worship and is associated with the Christ Church Cathedral Group of Parishes. It is also a historic attraction because of the crypts beneath it.
Its history is considerably older than the building we see today.
The church is traditionally said to have been founded in 1095. That date, however, needs a little qualification.
Historical and archaeological research has found that the commonly repeated 1095 date is not securely established. The earliest clearly documented evidence for St. Michan's comes from around 1179, although the dedication to St. Michan and the church's connection with Dublin's earlier Norse population strongly suggest that a church existed here before the arrival of the Normans.
So when you hear that St. Michan's dates to 1095, it is best understood as a traditional date rather than a date historians can establish with certainty.
Who was St. Michan?
This is one of the interesting little mysteries surrounding the church.
St. Michan is traditionally associated with the early Christian period in Ireland, but surprisingly little is known about the historical person himself.
The church's name has a strong connection with Dublin's old Norse community.
Dublin was not simply an Irish town into which Vikings occasionally sailed.
The Norse established a permanent settlement here. Over generations, Irish and Norse populations mixed, producing the culture sometimes called Hiberno-Norse.
That makes St. Michan's particularly interesting because its history reaches back toward that early Dublin world.
The church we see today isn't the original church
This is important.
The building standing today dates principally from the late seventeenth century.
The church was rebuilt in 1685–1686, although portions of the earlier structure may survive in its foundations. Archaeological research also suggests that the vaults containing the mummified remains may date from approximately this rebuilding period.
The church underwent further repair and alteration during the nineteenth century.
Inside are several fascinating reminders of its past.
One is the old organ, which has traditionally been associated with George Frideric Handel and his visits to Dublin. Handel came to Dublin in 1741–1742 for the famous series of concerts that culminated in the first performance of Messiah.
Another is the Penitent's Desk, commissioned in 1724. It was used for public confession.
So even before you go underground, St. Michan's is a remarkable piece of Dublin history.
But the crypt is what made the church famous around the world.
Why are there mummies beneath a church?
This is perhaps the first question most people ask.
The answer is actually quite ordinary.
They were buried there.
For centuries, churches were not merely places where people worshipped. They were also places where people were buried.
We sometimes think of cemeteries as always having been separate from churches, but historically that was not necessarily the case.
People of means could have family burial vaults beneath or beside churches.
At St. Michan's, underground vaults were constructed beneath the church.
Families could have members buried there generation after generation.
The people in the vaults were therefore not placed there because someone wanted to create mummies.
They were placed there because the vaults were their burial places.
The extraordinary part came afterward.
So who mummified them?
Nobody.
This is one of the most fascinating things about St. Michan's.
The bodies underwent natural mummification.
The underground environment provided unusual conditions that slowed the normal decomposition process.
The Church of Ireland has explained that the crypts remain around 14°C (57°F) throughout the year and that the limestone surroundings create a particularly dry atmosphere. Their proximity to what was once Oxmantown Marsh is also considered part of the explanation for the unusual preservation.
In other words, St. Michan's accidentally created something resembling a natural preservation chamber.
What normally happens to a body?
After death, the human body begins a complicated process of decomposition.
Bacteria and other microorganisms break down tissues.
Moisture plays a major role.
Under ordinary conditions, soft tissues eventually disappear, leaving bones.
But if the environment becomes unusually dry, decomposition can be slowed dramatically.
Water leaves the tissues faster than microorganisms can destroy everything.
The skin becomes dry and leathery.
The body becomes smaller and lighter.
Eventually, the remains can resemble what we recognize as a mummy.
That is essentially what happened at St. Michan's.
There was no Egyptian-style embalming.
No removal of organs.
No wrapping in hundreds of yards of linen.
No special chemical recipe.
The crypt itself did much of the work.
Why were the vaults so good at preserving bodies?
The answer involves several factors working together.
1. Dryness
Dry surroundings are extremely important.
A body contains a great deal of water. When tissues dry, many of the processes responsible for decomposition slow down.
2. Stable temperature
The crypt's temperature remains relatively stable.
Extreme fluctuations can promote condensation and moisture.
A more stable underground environment helps maintain the dry conditions.
3. Limestone
The crypts are built into the limestone environment beneath the church.
The Church of Ireland specifically identifies the dry limestone atmosphere as one of the important reasons the remains survived.
4. The coffins
The people were placed inside coffins, which provided another layer of protection from the outside environment.
Together, these circumstances produced something extraordinary:
people who died hundreds of years ago whose bodies did not completely disappear.
Were they intentionally made into mummies?
No.
This distinction is important.
The people buried at St. Michan's were not attempting to become mummies.
Their families were following the burial practices of their time.
The preservation happened afterward.
It is therefore more accurate to call them naturally mummified remains rather than deliberately prepared mummies.
Who were the people?
This is where the story becomes much more mysterious.
We know that many of the people buried in the vaults belonged to prominent Dublin families, particularly families from approximately the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries.
But we do not know the identities of every preserved body.
Some became known by nicknames rather than their real names.
Among the best-known are:
- The Crusader
- The Nun
- The Thief
- The Shears brothers
The nicknames make them sound almost like characters in a ghost story.
The reality is more interesting.
These were actual human beings who lived ordinary lives in Dublin centuries ago.
The famous Crusader
One of the most famous remains was called the Crusader.
He was believed to be approximately 800 years old according to the traditional account.
His body was unusually tall and well preserved.
Visitors were historically allowed to approach the remains, and one of the most famous features was the Crusader's extended hand.
Visitors could actually touch it.
That practice became one of the most memorable—and controversial—aspects of the attraction.
But there was a terrible chapter in the story.
In February 2019, someone broke into the crypt.
The Crusader's head was removed.
Another mummy, known as the Nun, was badly disturbed, and other remains were damaged. The stolen head was eventually recovered, and the crypt was repaired and reconsecrated.
The incident demonstrated just how vulnerable these ancient remains were.
They had survived centuries underground but were suddenly at risk from people.
And then came the 2024 fire
Sadly, the story became even more tragic.
On June 11, 2024, a fire was discovered in the crypt.
The remains were badly damaged.
The famous Crusader was among those believed to have been destroyed, along with other mummified remains. At the time, the church reported that the mummies were sitting in approximately a foot of water after the incident.
This means that some descriptions and photographs of St. Michan's mummies found online today are historical records rather than representations of what visitors can necessarily see now.
That is an important distinction if you happen to come across older photographs showing the famous preserved bodies.
Did scientists ever examine the mummies?
Yes.
The mummies have attracted scientific interest for many years.
In 2002, a National Geographic team came to St. Michan's to examine the famous remains.
At that time, researchers emphasized how little was actually known about their identities and exact ages.
Despite the names Crusader, Nun and Thief, those labels should not be taken to mean that historians have positively identified the people.
They are descriptive names that developed through tradition and visitor interpretation.
The researchers estimated that the famous remains could be anywhere from roughly 400 to 800 years old, depending on the individual.
That uncertainty is fascinating in itself.
Imagine finding a human body that may have been lying in a crypt since the Middle Ages—and realizing that you don't actually know the person's name.
Were they famous people?
Some of the people buried at St. Michan's were members of influential Dublin families.
The vaults contain remains associated with prominent families from the city's history.
The church's own historical information describes the crypts as containing mummified remains of some of Dublin's influential families from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
But the most famous remains aren't necessarily famous because the individuals themselves were famous.
They became famous because their bodies survived.
That's a rather strange way to enter history.
A person might have lived a quiet life, died hundreds of years ago, and been forgotten.
Then centuries later, their unusually preserved body makes them one of the most talked-about people in the city.
The Sheares brothers
Another connection to Irish history involves John and Henry Sheares.
The brothers were involved in the 1798 Irish rebellion.
They were executed in Dublin in 1798 and were buried in the St. Michan's vaults.
The church's visitor information has historically identified their coffins among those viewable in the crypt.
Their story is particularly different from that of the mysterious medieval remains.
Here we know exactly who they were.
They were part of a documented historical event.
Their burial therefore connects the crypt directly to one of the most turbulent periods in Irish history.
Wolfe Tone's death mask
Another extraordinary object associated with St. Michan's is the death mask of Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders associated with the Society of United Irishmen and the 1798 rebellion.
It is important to distinguish a death mask from a mummy.
A death mask is a cast or impression made from a person's face after death.
It was once a way of preserving the appearance of important individuals before photography became common.
St. Michan's has historically displayed a death mask associated with Wolfe Tone.
So the crypt isn't merely a collection of anonymous old bodies.
It is also connected to identifiable people and major episodes in Irish history.
How were the mummies discovered?
This question requires a little care because there wasn't one dramatic moment when someone opened the church floor and suddenly discovered a room full of mummies.
The vaults were burial vaults.
Their existence was known.
The remarkable preservation of the bodies became the unusual feature of the crypt.
Over time, visitors and church officials recognized that the dry underground conditions had preserved some of the remains.
By the twentieth century, the vaults had become a visitor attraction.
Two of the vaults have been open to the public since the 1920s, according to the Church of Ireland.
So the "discovery" was really a gradual realization of just how extraordinary the preservation was.
Why didn't the church simply bury the bodies somewhere else?
This is an interesting question.
Because these were established family burial vaults, they were not treated as archaeological specimens that someone could simply remove.
They were people's graves.
That distinction remains important today.
The individuals lying there were buried according to the customs of their time, and the church has historically treated them as human remains rather than merely museum objects.
That is one reason the later vandalism was regarded so seriously.
What is it like inside?
The crypts are underground stone chambers.
They are not like a modern museum.
There are no brightly lit glass cases with neatly arranged exhibits.
Historically, the atmosphere was deliberately quite raw.
Stone walls.
Old coffins.
Dark corners.
Dust.
A remarkably dry environment.
And the knowledge that the people inside the coffins really lived and died hundreds of years ago.
An account from 2002 described the crypt as having dirt floors, cobwebs and very limited space.
That atmosphere is part of what made St. Michan's so memorable.
Can you still visit the mummies?
This is where current information matters.
The church's current visitor information says crypt tours operate on Monday through Thursday, with morning tours and afternoon tours, and that tickets are purchased on arrival on a drop-in basis. The church advises checking current opening information because schedules can change.
However, because of the 2024 fire and the damage to the remains, I would not assume that an older travel guide or photograph accurately describes what you will see today.
The current church information is the best place to check before making a trip.
St. Michan’s current visitor information
And there is another practical consideration: the crypt is underground, with stairs and confined spaces.
Why would anyone want to visit a place like this?
That depends upon what you find fascinating.
If you are interested in ancient Egypt, you might be fascinated by the preservation.
If you enjoy history, the crypt is a physical connection to people who lived in Dublin centuries ago.
If you are interested in archaeology, the vaults demonstrate how environmental conditions can preserve human remains without deliberate embalming.
And if you simply wonder what happens to human beings after death, St. Michan's provides an unusually direct answer.
Normally, when we think of someone who died 300 or 500 years ago, we imagine that almost nothing physical remains.
At St. Michan's, the opposite can sometimes be true.
You can stand only a few feet from the remains of someone who lived hundreds of years before your grandparents were born.
That is a powerful experience.
The strangest part: the mummies weren't supposed to be there for us
Perhaps this is the thought I find most interesting.
The people in the crypts never intended to become attractions.
They weren't buried so future generations could stare at them.
They were husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, children, merchants, members of prominent families, religious people, rebels and ordinary citizens.
They had homes.
They had families.
They had hopes and worries.
They probably complained about the price of things, worried about their children, celebrated birthdays and weddings, became sick, recovered from illnesses, lost loved ones and eventually died.
Then they were placed in their family vault.
And time passed.
One generation followed another.
The city changed above them.
The church was rebuilt.
The streets changed.
Horses gave way to automobiles.
Electric lights replaced candles.
Two world wars came and went.
Ireland became an independent state.
Modern Dublin grew around the church.
And beneath it all, some of those people remained.
St. Michan's is really two histories at once
That is what makes the church so extraordinary.
Above ground is the history of Dublin as a living city.
The church tells us about religion, architecture, music, politics, the Church of Ireland and the changing communities of Dublin.
Below ground is the history of Dublin as a city of the dead.
The crypts preserve evidence of how earlier generations dealt with death, burial and remembrance.
The two histories are inseparable.
The church exists because people lived.
The crypt exists because people died.
And the mummies survived because the earth beneath the church happened to provide the right conditions.
One final thought
I think the most fascinating thing about St. Michan's isn't actually that there are mummies beneath a church.
It is why they are there.
They weren't made for display.
They weren't deliberately preserved.
They weren't famous when they died.
They were simply buried in a particular place, in a particular kind of vault, and nature unexpectedly preserved them.
That makes St. Michan's feel less like a museum of mummies and more like a time capsule of human beings.
And that is why the story has lasted.
The church has changed.
Dublin has changed.
The world has changed.
But for centuries, those people remained quietly beneath the floor, waiting for someone in a much later generation to wonder:
Who were they? What were their lives like? And how did they survive all this time?
That, to me, is the real mystery of St. Michan's.
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