The exhibition Life and death

Usually, dead bodies decompose when buried in the soil, but sometimes the decomposition process can stop under special soil conditions. It has happened to Maren's body. Her body has undergone a special mummification process by being buried in moist soil without access to oxygen.

We don't know much about her. One story goes that she was found at Ankerløkken cemetery in Kristiania. That was the cholera cemetery, which was later dug up to, among other things, make room for the city's gas works. She became part of Rikshospitalet's pathology collection and was later called "Maren i myra" after a popular song.