Catacomb Saints
posted May 16, 2016 #
"Are you interested in seeing a dilapidated old church in the forest with a skeleton standing there covered in jewels and holding a cup of blood in his left hand like he's offering you a toast?"Fortunately, historian Paul Koudounaris could not say no to such an offering and came to know and document an the first of many East German chapel's containing "catacomb saints" - extremely adorned skeletal remains left to personify the glory of the afterlife.
This Smithsonian magazine piece reads like an Indian Jones story (one of the good ones). The skeletons often took years to prepare and the value of their adornments is impossible to determine. It's a bit macabre but also undeniably fascinating.