Immortal Skeleton Saints – Awesome Photos of Remains Dressed Like Royalty

I’ve always been drawn to skeletons; skulls in particular, really. Not in a spooky, trendy, goth way- but in a “man, humans are intricate and amazing and strong and fragile and beautiful” sort of way. While I know that our skeletal system has become synonymous with scary because of its close relation with death (it seems fairly logical we’ll never get to look at neat bones without a fairly messy extraction process,) something about the skeleton is very reassuring to me. We’re all the same on the inside, at the most base level of being tented up, so we’re the marvelous bipedal creatures we are instead of gelatinous sacks of different colored skin. As pretty of a picture as that particular sentence evokes, these photographs of skeleton saints from an off-the-beaten-path church in Germany highlight the beauty and the majesty of our interior workings in an even more inspiring one…and yeah, they’re a little creepy too.

Immortal Skeleton Saints – You Don’t Have to be Alive to be Majestic

Photographer Toby De Silvas’ shots from the “Immortal” series have a flat, painterly look to them that really make these skeletons appear to be perfectly captured works of hand-made art- but don’t be fooled: these are actual photos of the remains of (supposed) skeleton saints, propped up, dressed in incalculable wealth, and shot lounging about like the bosses they are. I only say supposed as there was a time when owning the bones of a saint was all the rage in churches. If you didn’t happen to have an anointed and holy buddy on the verge of death (or who could go missing under questionable circumstances,) it became big business to find another stiff who nobody was currently using and take a memento for your reliquary. Toby writes:

“…the Saints are displayed in a cathedral in Eastern Germany close to the Czech border and were acquired in the 17th century when there was a big trade in relics. They are said to be the remains of Martyred saints that were stored in the catacombs of Rome before being removed and traded. They were reassembled and dressed in their fine regalia and displayed in ornate cabinets.”

 ‘Fine regalia’ doesn’t even come close: these particular immortals are straight up ballers. Now, I would absolutely, no questions asked, pay money for a print or canvas featuring these spectacular skeleton saint images- YOU HEAR THAT, TOBY? Unfortunately, though I was able to find him on Lightstalkers, Toby’s let his website hosting fall dormant. However, I came across these photos on a Facebook page which is public, and happens to contain many other weird and interesting photo sets for you to browse through. Where’s your favorite historical locale filled with old bones? I’m itching for some travel and could do with seeing a new reliquary or two.