Alfred Seiland

In the year 2006 A.D. Alfred Seiland set out on his project ”Imperium Romanum“. What started as an interesting assignment (by the New York Times Magazine) to accompany the shooting of the HBO Series ”Rome“ in Cinecittà, turned into a thorough, longterm photographic research of the remains and of Roman culture, architecture, landscape and art in the early 21st century. Using his brilliantly imaginative, sometimes ironic photographic language, taking buildings, landscapes, and artefacts of the Roman Empire as a point of reference, Alfred Seiland creates an in-depth visual documentation of the interwoven histories and cultures of Europe and the Mediterranean hemisphere. This book is the second in a series of ”Opus Extractum“ volumes. It explores 58 locations in 22 countries all over the territory of the former Roman Empire and beyond. All pictures are accompanied by longer explanatory captions which make references to the historical and modern, visible and invisible aspects of the captured places. The introductory essay of the British historian Philip Parkers takes the reader on a literary journey through time and space of the Roman Empire before he can follow Alfred Seiland on his visual journey. ”Imperium Romanum“ is an epic project, both in concept and scope, that goes back deep into the early roots of a common European and Mediterranean culture.