Relics

Collage inspired by the Catacomb Saints, which were the exhumed bodies of Roman Christians, ornately decorated with jewels and precious stones.

During the Beeldenstorm (attack on the images or statues) of the 16th century, Catholic churches throughout Europe were stripped of their religious symbols, iconography and relics. In response, the Vatican ordered that thousands of skeletons be exhumed from the catacombs beneath the city and installed in churches and towns throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

These skeletons were then extravagantly decorated and bejeweled, to replace the lost artifacts.