The living and their dead

The Living and Their Dead

Art, Beliefs and Funeral Rites in the Ardennes of Yesteryear

For a long time, death was regarded as a taboo subject; even mentioning it was forbidden. Today, it has become a fully-fledged field of historical study.

Drawing on a wide range of sources, such as wills, devotional images, cemeteries and funeral rites, specialists have succeeded in unravelling the secrets of the collective imagination of societies of yesteryear. The exploration of death has thus led to an anthropological approach.