Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses

by Paul Koudounaris

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. 290 photographs, 260 in color

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Death, Art, Photography, Anthropology, Historical

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 24, 2011

About the author

Paul Koudounaris is an author and photographer from Los Angeles. He has a PhD in Art History and his publications in the field of charnel house and ossuary research have made him a well-known figure in the field of macabre art and art history. He is a member of The Order of the Good Death.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought “Empire of Death” for my brother for Christmas because I figured this would fit in nicely with his collection of taxidermic flying lizards, antique promotional flyers and headshots of circus performers, and other fascinating doodads that he seems to acquire for the sole purpose of littering his studio apartment. However, after he squealed with delight upon opening his gift (this is seriously the best thing I’ve ever bought him), I immediately snatched the book from him and spent the remainder of Christmas curled up by the fire, occasionally shouting things like “Oh my god, it’s an infant skeleton in a crib!” or “They fucking bejeweled this monk mummy!” It was a good Christmas. This is a fantastic book.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an astounding resource, and the first of its kind as far as I know. The sheer number and variety of ossuary sites described and depicted won't be found in any other book, and the text is very rigorous and detailed. Some might quibble with the over-reliance on Baudrillard's theories of death in the introduction, but the author puts these concepts to good use in describing the significance of ossuaries to the people who made them - they weren't chambers of horror, but sites where the living and the dead continued to relate to one another. Koudounaris also carefully distinguishes the evolving meanings of ossuaries and charnels in the different eras of history in which they appeared.

The photographs (by the author) are dazzling, and I'm in awe both of the effort it took to travel to and photograph all the sites, and the photographic skill of the images. On occasion I wished that, for sites where only one or two photographs appear, the photographs chosen had been more representative of the space as a whole instead of, perhaps, a dramatic angle into the eye socket of a skull. Also (with my arcitectural bias) I wished there was a bit more emphasis on the spatial qualities of the interiors; also a floor plan or two would have been nice to see. The author is an art historian, though, and usually describes the ossuaries as artworks rather than as architectural spaces primarily.

The book is gorgeously produced. The frontmatter says "Design and Art Direction by Barnbrook." Fabulous book, Barnbrook. I love the way you picked up the arrangements of skulls and bones in some of the more classicizing ossuaries and quoted those geometries in the page layouts. But...would it have KILLED you to use a slightly larger typeface? The dedicated reader will lose a few retinal cells in the effort to read the text portions of this book under any kind of ordinary light. And as for the few pages that have a red background - no. Just no.

With those quibbles aside - This book will knock your eyes out and absolutely fascinate you. I hope libraries everywhere will carry it too. If you feel like traveling to see any of these places for yourself, there is an appendix giving the location of each and information about how to visit them.

[Draga Corinthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this book is outstanding, in terms of the photos, the production, and the research and clarity of the text. It is also a completely unique book--nothing like it has ever appeared that I have ever seen (and I am very interested and literate in subject matter involving both macabre art and religious art history/architecture). I have talked to other people who now own this book, and they are all of the same opinion. In fact, in many ways I think it introduces an entirely new area of study in the history of visual culture. The only negative comment I have seen about this book on this or any other site is a reviewer here who said the text left things to be desired--I am assuming in that case the person wanted more text, because the text that is in the is book is extremely well written, erudite, and factual (the book is balanced between photos and text, and I think the text is probably about 40,000 words). Well, I have worked for and with publishers, and I can tell you that they brought this book to market at the lowest price point they possible could considering the way it was produced, and the decision to keep the text at a certain length was no doubt based on economic factors in retailing the book--if that person wants something more along the lines of a textbook, great, but it would have cost double. Compromises need to be made in today's book market, and the decisions made while putting this book together are spot on--it coheres very well in its aesthetics and presentation.

[Peter Jakobsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those who have gone before well outnumber those of the transitory present and are more swiftly forgotten. It is now overwhelmingly the fashion in Australia to incinerate the dead – burial is a considerable ongoing expense and the real estate is rented (in due course, urban cemeteries will reclaim the space). This incredible book shows and tells us of the veneration of the dead in 17C-19C catholic Europe (and parts of South America and south east Asia) in ossuaries and charnel houses. The pictures have to be seen to be believed: mountains of bones; garlands of skulls, cages and display cabinets of bones; crosses of skulls, chapels of bones encrusted with skulls, immense grinning cairns of skulls; bones dressed, whitened with lime, lovingly painted or inscribed. Emblematic of the antique catholic tendency to emphasize the majesty of death, these shrines also speak with eloquent silence to our non-doctrinal need, as Freud expressed it, “to make friends with the necessity of dying.” This is beautifully written and researched, though it will give a modern sensibility the absolute creeps.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill bought me this for Christmas. We've visited several ossuaries and the Paris catacombs and I always wanted to know how one Earth people started building things like that. This book was a wonderful cultural history of the subject with lots and lots of amazing photos. It explained the origins of the decorated churches and crypts, how they came to be, what they represented, the folklore and superstition of different areas and churches, how the local people related to the bones, and how the different structures developed over time. I learned so much! What I thought was most fascinating was the fact that most were built in the 18th and 19th centuries. I had imagined them to be much older, but it was fascinating to think that they had developed in more "modern" times. It also includes a map and list of all the different ossauries so you can easily plan which to visit. If you are at all interested in the subject I can't recommend this book highly enough.

[Giovanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un'opera straordinaria frutto di un'intensa ricerca e di una grande passione per l'oggetto di studio che tuttavia risulta molto chiara anche per un pubblico non avvezzo all'antropologia, alla storia dell'arte e alle altre discipline che si intrecciano in questo libro, merito anche delle bellissime fotografie. L'unica pecca che riscontro riguarda la trattazione di determinati siti in capitoli a mio avviso sbagliati: ad esempio ritengo che sarebbe stato più logico inserire i paragrafi riguardanti la Cripta della Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo a Melník nel capitolo finale dove si discute della conservazione e della ricostruzione degli ossari. Così facendo il lettore potrebbe capire meglio per quale motivo un antropologo abbia deciso di riorganizzare le ossa in tale cripta, poiché in quel capitolo vengono riportati esempi simili.

[Frederic · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot of good information here, and some nice photos, but overall it left me wanting more. The book design - particularly the type size, but also layout - makes it something of a pain to try and read. The inclusion of non-traditional examples (e.g., the Cambodian memorial stupa for victims of the killing fields) is a nice touch, but suggests a completeness of global coverage that isn't really achieved. Much better is his Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs which I had read before this one.

[Paperclippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was beautiful and insightful and had wonderful photographs. Highly recommended for anyone in the death community or if you just love dark art or unusual history. My only complaints were the tiny font size - and I just got new glasses, but come on - and that I wish it had gone more in depth, but the further reading section in the back is kind of a treasure trove. I have yet to properly go through it but I see a lot of names I recognize and it's probably worth digging into.

[Stephen Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty amazing book ... and I would dearly love to give it 5 stars.
Unfortunately, the typeface is painfully small, and I found myself having to stop reading because of budding headaches from straining to read the type.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating, insightful look at ossuaries and charnel houses primarily in continental Europe. Abundantly illustrated with excellent quality color photographs.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can't fault the research and of course the big selling point of the book for me, the photographs.

What I can fault and fault to a big degree is that the text is so, so tiny. Text for mice. Text for ants. It is the reason I had to knock a star off, so if you buy a digital copy you can throw a fifth star on there as it won't apply.

It is a beautiful coffee table book. I LOVE coffee table books. It is a gorgeous book to leaf through and take a few moments to marvel at the photos.

To try to sit and read all of the accompanying text comfortably though? Very difficult in a literal sense. The tiny text as mentioned paired that with the book being of a good size, you have no real way of being able to easily wield the thing. You either must hunch over it like a gargoyle or hold it right up to your nose. There is a lot of info here to glean so you're having to do this for an extended period and it really isn't easy!

So, no problem at all with the information or the quality of the photos (I think this is my third Koudounaris book!) but if you have eyesight issues (like myself) it is very likely you''ll have trouble reading the text. Something else to keep in mind is if you want to actually read the book front to back as opposed to just flip through it now and again, prepare for a fight.

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent photography and interesting information about ossuaries and charnel houses.

[Mayu Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este ha sido el libro más interesante que he leído en todo el año, ""El Imperio de la Muerte" , Historia cultural de los osarios" de Paul Koudounaris. Orígenes, historias, espiritualismo y conservación hasta el siglo XX, me encantan los libros que me provocan tomar apuntes, anotar bibliografía y buscar más información, totalmente recomendado.💀🖤

[Alis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a landmark book on ossuaries, especially decorative and architecturally arranged ones. It also has many fantastic pictures, some of which are not available on the web and the inside cover plots the ossuaries on a map. Aside from that, it's an attractive addition to any library in the hard-cover format.

Koudounaris’ argument seems to be that charnel houses created an arena for the dead and the living to communicate, which reached its height in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His goal is to explain the separation between this conversational attitude and the feelings of confusion, disgust, and even shame over such practices in post-Enlightenment Western Europe.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a book about Florida in the 1980’s. Sorry guys. Great text about the renaissance era predilection for constructing elaborate ossuaries, or bone palaces. Monks all across Europe used human bones to create works of unparalleled splendor and gloominess. From holy mummies to bone chandeliers, these constructions are often awe inspiring. While the extensive photographic documentation of ossuaries is the star, the various essays dissecting the obsession many holy orders of the period had with human remains is also worth the slog. Best if read by torch light.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw a copy of this at the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle, It looks outstanding! Can't wait to get this.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book. Putting some of the places on my European "to visit" list.

[Ruaraidh Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naturally, this book is expectedly macabre and creepy, it thrills, intrigues and repulses with every turn of its sumptious pages. The book itself, is a beautifully produced object in its own right, the binding is beautiful and the photographs are stunning. The small gold photographs are sometimes a little difficult to see in the text sections but otherwise it is a very attractive and elevates the sense of gleeful curiousity.

Despite being quite light on text, the book packs a lot of well researched and detailed information into its 209 pages (of which at least a third are glossy photographs). Koudonaris is a capable and convincing scholar, from the start he encourages readers to approach these places with an open mind. Once you overcome the initial thrill and repulsion the book will challenge your perspectives on these bizarrely beautiful monuments. They come from an age more at ease with mortality, where death was an everyday experience that intersected with the realm of the living.

In our time, death is relegated distant foreign border, a haunting finality that we shy away from and hide from. The realms of dead and living are divorced from each other, human skeletons are Halloween monsters and spectres, rather than the remains of our fellow humans. Through this work, Koudounaris encourages us to appreciate the value of a world were mortality is visible in the everyday, a world that accepts and embraces our fate instead of running from it. He makes sense of periods with a totally different relationship to death and overcomes the instinct to dismiss our ancestors as superstitious. We are left with not only an understanding and compassion for them but a sense that they may have a point!

The only significant omission that I felt would have made a valuable addition, was a discussion of the ethics of art made of human remains. Koudounaris does a good job of presenting the mixed responses and attitudes these monuments received over the years but he does not comment much on the arguments for or against. I understand the decision not to attempt to recreate the ethics of bygone eras however it could have been a fascinating discussion for the final section on modern challenges of conservation and preservation.

Overall, this book is a lavish production, an engaging and pensive read and a wonderful addition to any collection. Despite the relative specialism of the subject, this book will inspire thoughts far beyond the scope of its specific niche. In a sense, the book itself is a memento mori, like these ossuaries and charnels, an object that inspires meditation and reflection on death.

[Abbygayle Allred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful book full of bones and skulls and haunting halls decorated with both. I wasn’t fascinated to see the end of the book where the locations of each featured picture were featured. A shocking amount were located in Germany which I didn’t expect for some reason. I hope to get a copy of this myself someday- I’d love to go through and read this in a more detailed way. Maybe to annotate certain parts or use the images as references for art. Death and all the art and theology around it is fascinating!!!!
Also I couldn’t help but think of Tamsyn Muir’s the Locked Tomb series while going through this book. Iykyk, but if you don’t know, there’s a neat death-focused sci-fi series recommendation for ya :)
I definitely recommend this book!!! Unless you aren’t comfortable with lots of bones and skulls. Then it’s definitely not the book for you. Lol

[Jacob Bornheimer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normally, I love all things that Thames & Hudson touch. Their books are always lavishly illustrated, with a great interplay between text and picture. That said, this book is terribly laid out. Although a folio size volume, the margins are gargantuan. In addition, the text is minuscule and in an insidious font that only reveals it's flaws the more you read it. The photos in the margin are small and washed out, making them impossible to see. The content itself is either interesting but dully presented, or a mishmash of bizarre waffling cultural theory about death. Overall, it made me sad.

But, the inter-chapter photographs are breathtaking, folio size, in lovely colour. That saves it a star.

[dejah_thoris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read quickly but kept until the end of its lending period because the art is so amazing. (I'd buy a copy, but it's an oversize volume.) Some especially inspiring pieces include the Skeleton of St. Pancratius who rocks a beautiful suit of armor and the saints covered in jewels at the Basilica of Waldsassen in Germany. Then there's the charnel houses themselves the pinnacle of which is the Ossuary of All Saints' Chapel a.k.a. the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic. The Ossuary features a massive chandelier with at least one of every bone in the human body, four pyramids of skulls, huge bone chalices, and an equally large coat of arms. Jan Svankmajer filmed the site in 1970 and released two versions of the 10 minute short film the better of which is the one without the music.

[Elsinore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs, well-researched study of ossuaries, awful book design. Whoever was responsible for choosing fonts, colours and size of, well, everything, did a horrendous job. Several pages are dark red with black text, which obviously makes them almost unreadable. Other pages have gigantic margins surrounding the text that is too small to be read comfortably. Baffling decisions all around. I can't possibly recommend buying this book at full price (£40!), when it is so unpleasant to read.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book. Everything I could want to know about ossuaries and charnel houses, with lovely photographs. Highly recommend.

My one complaint is the small type. The pages had plenty of extra room, could have bumped up the font size so I wouldn’t have to use my old lady glasses to see the words. Also, be cautious on the black background photo pages. It’s very easy to leave unsightly fingerprints.

[Virginia Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

This stunningly illustrated book looks at the history of ossuaries primarily all across Europe. Photos include complex designs made of bones, elaborately dressed skeletons and mummified remains, jewel encrusted and painted skulls. The author looks at the role these remains played in their cultures and the mythology and folklore that grew up around them. 290 photographs, 260 in color.

[su · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read this book completely, just skimmed through at the library. The pictures were fascinating and slightly unsettling. As for the text, I think you should have a special interest in that subject to pick this book up and enjoy.

[Christy ofthewoods · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super gorgeous... Perfect coffee table book!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awesome but was surprisingly dryly written...

[Anya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I imagine that this would be really good if I cared!

[Tannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of charnel houses and ossuaries.

[Liv Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad I got my hands on the physical hardcover of this beautiful book. Really well written and filled with truly awe-inducing pictures.