Empire of Death is a comprehensive examination of the history of the Ossuaries and Charnel Houses in the European tradition. The bone houses, used for storage and decorative effects, present the living with the opportunity to confront or commune with death and the dead. Author, Art Historian and Photographer Paul Koudounaris’ central consideration in Empire of Death is the changing relations between the living and the dead as evinced in the treatment of bones and human bodies in these forms of monumental architecture.

Koudounaris’ meticulous research is shown in both vivid and remarkably sumptuous photography.