The objects are indeed real – they are the centuries-old skeletal, human remains exhumed from Rome's underground catacombs.

As a result, the Christian funerary art in the catacombs was similar to traditional Greco-Roman art. During the Great Persecutions, religiously ‘neutral’ images were used by Christians.

Deep below the streets of Rome lie the ancient catacombs where early Christians buried their dead and sustained hope for eternal life. About the same time as the persecution of Decius, middle of ...

Probably there are a number of lost catacombs, too." The oldest tunnels date back to the first century. "The Jewish community in Rome built them as cemeteries. Christian catacombs came a century ...