It seems that someone from 240 years ago had a bit of a sense of humor. A statue of Jesus, called Cristo del Miserere, which was located in a church in northern Spain, had a surprise for those who recently began work to restore it. When workers removed a cloth that was covering the statue’s behind, they found a hidden compartment — in Jesus’s butt, of all places. Inside was a letter from 1777, written by Joaquín Mínguez, a chaplain of the Cathedral of Burgo de Osma.
Mínguez wrote about the statue and about life at the time, describing “cards, ball, bald, bar and other puerile games” that were popular in his day. He also described typhoid and malaria epidemics in the area and talked about the bountiful vineyards in the region. “The harvest [in Inverse] has been plentiful for many years,” Minguez wrote.
While having a hollow interior is relatively common in statues, hiding something— especially for more than two centuries — is certainly something that was unexpected. The original letter was sent to the archbishop, but a copy of it was returned to the place where it was initially discovered.
You can watch the removal of the letters in the video below.
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