Secrets of the mummies at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius

Anthropologist Dario Piombino-Mascali discovers lessons for modern medicine among remains of 23 preserved people

The crypt under the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit in the heart of Vilnius has a vivid history.

The coffins hidden in the gloomy lair under the church's altar were stripped by Napoleon's army for wood. During the second world war, the Nazis used it as a makeshift bomb shelter. And in their time as the local overlords, the Soviets converted the crypt into a museum of atheism.