poonam taneja reporting there.mified woman and it turns out she is a distant relation of one of our most well known politicians. imogen foulkes has the details. back in 1975 workmen were renovating this church in basel and they made an unusual discovery. the body of a mummified woman. she had been buried right in front of the altar and was wearing good—quality clothes. she was also quite plump. that indicates a wealthy lady. but although there are many clues as to basel‘s historic merchant families around here, there didn't seem to be anything to indicate who this lady was. there were a couple of hints. for one thing, the body was riddled with mercury. mercury was a common treatment for syphilis in the 18th century. what's more, basel historians knew that members of the bischoff family had been buried around here. but it wasn't until the 21st century, and dna testing from the mummy‘s big toe and from a living member of the family that the mystery was finally solved. anna catarina bischoff, she married a church mini