A relic hunter dubbed 'Indiana Bones' has lifted the lid on a macabre collection of 400-year-old jewel-encrusted skeletons unearthed in churches across Europe.

Art historian Paul Koudounaris hunted down and photographed dozens of gruesome skeletons in some of the world's most secretive religious establishments.

Incredibly, some of the skeletons, said to be the remains of early Christian martyrs, were even found hidden away in lock-ups and containers. After they were found in the Roman catacombs the Vatican authorities would sign certificates identifying them as martyrs then they put the bones in boxes and sent them northwards. The skeletons would then be dressed and decorated in jewels, gold and silver, mostly by nuns.

St Albertus: Laid to rest in the church of St George in Burgrain, Germany, St Albertus was a German philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages who died in 1280.

St Deodatus in Rheinau, Switzerland

St Valentinus in Waldsassen

St Friedrich at the Benedictine abbey in Melk, Austria: They were also symbols of the Catholic Church's newly found strength in previously Protestant areas

Adorned: St Luciana arrived at the convent in Heiligkreuztal, Germany and was prepared for display by the nuns in Ennetach
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