Dr. Bob Brier Hosts Special Spotlighting Investigation of
Medici Family Members and Their Centuries-Old Crypt
FLORENCE, Italy, July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Was it malaria, as claimed? Or
was it a double murder, as rumored? What killed the two sons of Cosimo I?
After half a millennium, these and other lingering questions may finally be
answered by a fascinating scientific investigation. MUMMY DETECTIVE: CRYPT
OF THE MEDICI follows a team of Italian specialists, joined by mummy expert
and TLC presenter Dr. Bob Brier, as they exhume the bodies of Italy's ancient
first family and use the latest forensic tools to investigate how they lived
and died.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030530/TLCLOGO )
Hosted by Dr. Bob Brier, the one-hour documentary special airs on October
17, 2004 from 9-10PM on TLC in North America and internationally starting in
November 2004 on the Discovery Channel.
Dr. Brier enters the crypt of one of history's most infamous and powerful
families, the Medici of Italy, the patrons behind the works of da Vinci,
Michelangelo, and Galileo. In Florence's famed church of San Lorenzo, the
crypt has 49 bodies in different levels of preservation -- some sporting
swords, gold crosses and crowns. Dr. Brier brings the family to life as he
joins the first team to scientifically examine the corpses. With TLC's
exclusive film access to the crypt, viewers will discover if one Medici was
poisoned and another assassinated.
As these scientists and archeologists work in their special on-site lab in
the intimate Laurentian Crypt in one of Europe's most beautiful churches, they
will exhume the bodies as well as various clothes and other artifacts, which
will be restored and exhibited. The remains will be examined and samples
extracted for further study at the University of Pisa -- including DNA samples
that could put to rest the mystery of various Medici deaths.
Dr. Brier, a senior research fellow at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island
University, will assist Italy's leading forensic expert, Dr. Gino Fornaciari,
in examining the remains of this extraordinary family. The team will be the
first to examine corpses in the Medici Crypt in over a century; some of the
tombs have never been opened. The Medici Project's international team of
paleopathologists, anthropologists, historians and archaeologists includes
project director Dr. Gino Fornaciari, professor of forensic anthropology and
director of the Pathology Museum, University of Pisa, and Dr. Donatella Lippi,
associate professor of the history of medicine, University of Florence.
As revealed in MUMMY DETECTIVE: CRYPT OF THE MEDICI, some of the Medici
remains are natural mummies; others are skeletal bones and artifacts. Experts
hope these exhumations reveal the Medici's secrets to science, from what they
ate to whether they suffered, as suspected, from gout. This "lifestyles of
the Renaissance rich and famous" also presents a rare retrospective on a most
remarkable family, including their funeral rites, leisure interests and taste
in clothing.
The Medici ruled Florence and Tuscany from 1434 to 1737. Bankers,
merchants and major patrons of Renaissance artists, their influence spread to
all of Italy and then Europe. The family included three popes and two queens
of France. It also had its share of intrigue. For instance, Francesco I's
successor, his brother Ferdinando I, insisted malaria killed Francesco in
1587. But did his symptoms match up? And why did Francesco's second wife --
hated by Ferdinando -- die one day later of the same mysterious symptoms? Is
she one of the two unclaimed women's bodies also buried in the crypt?
MUMMY DETECTIVE: CRYPT OF THE MEDICI reveals how scheming and
assassinations seem to color the Medici family tree -- a tree that could
become more clear after DNA evidence is traced. The program will include
detailed examinations of four of the bodies.
MUMMY DETECTIVE: CRYPT OF THE MEDICI is produced by PSL Productions for
TLC. Nancy Lavin is executive producer for TLC; Peter Spry-Leverton is
director/producer for PSL Productions.
This project was made possible by the kind permission of the Special
Superintendent for Florentine State Museums; with special thanks to Professor
Antonio Paolucci and Dr. Monica Bietti.
For more in-depth information about the special, please go to
http://www.discovery.com and click on TLC.
TLC is about high-quality, intelligent and relatable nonfiction
entertainment. With smart entertaining programming that captures life
unscripted, TLC relays personal stories that inspire, engage, inform and unite
our audience in the spirit of life's possibilities. TLC's storytelling
connects over 93 million viewers in North America to the breadth of the human
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Related links:
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Photo Notes:
NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030530/TLCLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, +1-888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840
CONTACT:
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Bronagh_Hanley@discovery.com
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