Paul Koudounaris Books

From bone fetishism in the ancient world to painted skulls in Austria and Bavaria: an unusual and compelling work of cultural history. It is sometimes said that death is the last taboo, but it was not always so. For centuries, religious establishments constructed decorated ossuaries and charnel houses that stand as masterpieces of art created from human bone. These unique structures have been pushed into the footnotes of history; they were part of a dialogue with death that is now silent. The sites in this specially photographed and brilliantly original study range from the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Palermo, where the living would visit mummified or skeletal remains and lovingly dress them; to the Paris catacombs; to fantastic bone-encrusted creations in Austria, Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and elsewhere. Paul Koudounaris photographed more than seventy sites for this book. He analyzes the role of these remarkable memorials within the cultures that created them, as well as the mythology and folklore that developed around them, and skillfully traces a remarkable human endeavor.

The first ever illustrated history of the world's most noble species from prehistoric times to present day - as told by the cats who lived it.

An intriguing visual history of the veneration in European churches and monasteries of bejeweled and decorated skeletons Death has never looked so beautiful. The fully articulated skeleton of a female saint, dressed in an intricate costume of silk brocade and gold lace, withered fingers glittering with colorful rubies, emeralds, and pearls—this is only one of the specially photographed relics featured in Heavenly Bodies. In 1578 news came of the discovery in Rome of a labyrinth of underground tombs, which were thought to hold the remains of thousands of early Christian martyrs. Skeletons of these supposed saints were subsequently 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, known as “the catacomb saints,” were carefully reassembled, richly dressed in fantastic costumes, wigs, crowns, jewels, and armor, and posed in elaborate displays inside churches and shrines as reminders to the faithful of the heavenly treasures that awaited them after death. Paul Koudounaris gained unprecedented access to religious institutions to reveal these fascinating historical artifacts. Hidden for over a century as Western attitudes toward both the worship of holy relics and death itself changed, some of these ornamented skeletons appear in publication here for the first time.

The astonishing story of how the dead live on in memorials and traditions across the globe, from Ethiopia and Nepal to Cambodia and Rwanda, told through arresting images and captivating narration Death is universal, but the human response to death varies widely. In Western society, death is usually medicalized and taboo, and kept apart from the world of the living, while in much of the rest of the world, and for much of human history, death has commonly been far more integrated into peoples’ daily existence, and human remains are as much a reminder of life, memento vitae, as of death, memento mori. Through photos taken at more than 250 sites in thirty countries over a decade, Paul Koudounaris has captured death around the world. From Bolivia’s “festival of the little pug-nosed ones,” where skulls are festooned with flowers and given cigarettes to smoke and beanie hats to protect them from the weather to Indonesian families who dress mummies and include them in their household routines; from naturally preserved Buddhist monks and memorials to genocide in Rwanda and Cambodia to the dramatic climax of Europe’s great ossuaries, Memento Mori defies taboo to demonstrate how the dead continue to be present in the lives of people everywhere.

The astonishing story of how the dead live on in memorials and traditions across the globe, from Ethiopia and Nepal to Cambodia and Rwanda, told through arresting images and captivating narration

1578 entdeckte man in Rom ein Labyrinth unterirdischer Begräbnisgänge, in denen sich die sterblichen Überreste Tausender Menschen mutmaßlich frühchristliche Märtyrer fanden. In der Folge barg man die Überreste dieser sogenannten Katakombenheiligen und brachte sie in katholische Kirchen und Klöster überwiegend in Süddeutschland, in der Schweiz und in Österreich, wo nach den Zerstörungen des 30-jährigen Krieges und im Zuge der Reformation dringender Bedarf an »neuen« Reliquien bestand. Dort wurden sie von geschickten Kunsthandwerkern und Künstlern wieder zusammengesetzt, mit Gold und Edelsteinen verziert und in prächtige Gewänder gekleidet. Anschließend stellte man sie in kunstvollen Schreinen aus, um der Gemeinde die spirituellen Schätze, die die Gläubigen im Jenseits erwarteten, stets vor Augen zu halten. Annähernd drei Jahrhunderte lang verehrte man die reich geschmückten »Heiligen Leiber« als Wundertäter und Beschützer der Gemeinde, bis die Zweifel hinsichtlich ihrer Authentizität schließlich die Oberhand gewannen. Dann schämte man sich ihrer und versteckte oder zerstörte sie. Dieses Buch wirft ein strahlendes Schlaglicht auf die in Vergessenheit geratenen Katakombenheiligen. Neben glanzvollen Bildern von über 70 spektakulär mit Juwelen besetzten Skeletten finden sich die bewegenden Geschichten zahlreicher Katakombenheiliger und seltenes Archivmaterial. Damit werden einige der atemberaubenden Reliquien erstmals veröffentlicht, da es Paul Koudounaris gelang, Zutritt zu ansonsten eher unzugänglichen religiösen Einrichtungen zu erhalten.

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Ein faszinierendes Kapitel Kulturgeschichte! Die Besucher der Katakomben von Paris wurden einst mit einer Hinweistafel begrüßt, dass sie hier DAS REICH DES TODES betreten. Vom Beginn der Neuzeit bis ins 19. Jahrhundert entstanden aufwendig verzierte Beinhäuser, Grabstätten und Kapellen, in denen Gebeine als Dekor verwendet wurden. In diesem Buch nimmt Paul Koudounaris den Leser mit auf eine Reise zu den eindrucksvollsten Beispielen des Makabren – von Europa über Asien bis nach Mittel- und Südamerika. Faszinierende Fotos und Illustrationen sowie ein Begleittext, der sich aus einer Vielzahl von Quellen speist, machen aus diesem Werk ein grundlegendes Memento mori für die moderne Zeit.