An art collector who purchased a relic inside a container at a recent auction, but was so intrigued by its contents that he contacted officials of Florence‘s History of Science Museum to see what it is, found out that what he had were relics of renowned Italian scientist Galileo Galilei who died in the 17th century.
Apparently, the newly-found relics, a tooth and two fingers from the scientist’s right hand, had passed from one collector to another until they went missing in 1905.
The body parts were cut from Galileo’s corpse by scientists and historians during a burial ceremony held 95 years after his death in 1642.
The remaining finger and the vertebrae have been conserved since 1737 in a mummified state in museums in Florence and Padua.
Paulo Galluzzi, the museum’s director said the auctioned relics were placed in a container and owned by generations of the same family.
“But with time, the generations lost knowledge of what was actually inside the container,” and the family sold it, Galluzzi said.
Galileo’s recovered relics will be on display at the museum next spring.
[via yahoo.com Image source: AP]
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