Mexico City, Mexico, Jan 17, 2008 / 04:07 am
A time capsule more than two centuries old has been found at the Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral, the Melbourne Herald Sun reports.
The time capsule, a lead box, was hidden in a hollow stone ball on top of a bell tower to mark the two-hundred-foot tall tower’s completion on May 14, 1791, two hundred eighteen years after construction began.
Inside was a case of wax blessed by the sitting Pope and an engraving of St. Barbara to ward off lightning. A parchment listed the capsule’s contents, including 23 medals, five coins, and five small crosses made of palm fronds that the parchment said were “for protection from the storms.”
A new capsule with contemporary items will be placed in the tower’s hollow stone ball when it is closed.