The body of Saint Nicholas was kept in the basement of a church in Bari, southern Italy. 1953, due to the renovation of the church, his body was dug up. At that time, the Vatican authorized Luigi Martino, an anatomist from the University of Bari, to examine the body of Saint Nicholas. Half a century later, Caroline Wilkinson, an anthropologist at Manchester University, analyzed the remains with X-rays and other measuring instruments, and then reconstructed St. Nicholas's head with clay.
Wilkinson said: "I used all kinds of measuring equipment to ensure the accuracy of skull reproduction. Then, on this basis, I began to restore the face of the saint, and everything was carried out in accordance with the standard restoration steps. "
The researchers also studied the paintings of Saint Nicholas' life and found that the leader of the Orthodox Church had a neat beard, which was a fashion at that time. Such a beard was also added to St. Nicholas's face, trying to get closer to him. Anade Karp of the Image Reproduction Studio said: "Almost all the images related to Saint Nicholas show that he has short gray hair and a medium gray beard." Finally, the researchers converted the copied images into three-dimensional images for film and television media.
When it comes to Santa Claus, people usually think of such an image: plump, rosy cheeks, blue eyes, happy white man, wearing red clothes and fur on the side, but the image restored by computer is quite different.
In fact, the prototype of Santa Claus is about 60 years old, short, firm in expression, square in face and very manly. Karp said, "If he is still alive, when you meet him, you may think he is a football player or bodyguard, or even a thug."
Wilkinson said: "I have long expected that the prototype of Santa Claus is different from our imagination, because people's imagination will always be influenced by various things in a certain era, such as Coca-Cola. In fact, the popular image of Santa Claus was created by Chicago illustrator Hamilton Sander Bloom in 193 1 year. This image was originally used to advertise Coca-Cola. "
Saint Nicholas was the leader of the Orthodox Church in the 4th century, when his status was equivalent to that of Turkey today. He was so famous among people that in 1087, his body was stolen by Italian sailors and taken to Bari.
In the Netherlands and other places, 65438+February 6th is Saint Nicholas' Day, which is the happiest day for children, because they will receive various gifts from adults. Dutch immigrants brought this custom to the United States, and Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus in England became one, so Santa Claus became popular.