Following on the success of his book The Empire of Death , which has attracted a global cult following, Paul Koudounaris brings the catacomb saints out of the darkness with this astonishing volume, which includes arresting images of more than seventy spectacular jeweled skeletons and the fascinating stories of dozens more, accompanied by rare archive material. This is the first time that some of these incredible relics – both intriguing historical artifacts and masterpieces of artistic craftsmanship in their own right – have appeared in a publication, with Koudounaris gaining unprecedented access to photograph in some of the most secretive religious establishments in Europe. This will be essential reading for goths, art historians and everyone in between.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
‘Heavenly Bodies’ is the chronicle of a group of extraordinary skeletons discovered in the Roman Catacombs in the late 16th century. Largely anonymous, they were nevertheless held to be the remains of Early Christian martyrs, and treated as sacred. Sent to Catholic churches and religious houses in German-speaking Europe to replace holy relics that had been destroyed in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, the skeletons were carefully reassembled, and richly adorned with jewels and precious costumes. They became the centre of spiritual life for many communities, yet as time passed, faith in them wavered and they were cast out as imposters, as the Catholic Church turned its back on what was once one of its treasures. This is a story that until now has been left out of the pages of both art and religious histories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[1426],"product_tag":[5205],"class_list":["post-93709","product","type-product","status-publish","product_cat-religion","product_tag-history-of-art-ancient-classical-artbce-to-c-500-ce","pa_book_author-koudounaris-paul","pa_cover-hardback","pa_dewey-235-2094-edition23","pa_imprint-thames-and-hudson","pa_language-english","pa_pages-9249","pa_publisher-thames-hudson","pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","first","onbackorder","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n