In 2006 A.D. the Austrian photographer Alfred Seiland began work on his Imperium Romanum project. What began as a commission for the New York Times Magazine - he was to accompany the filming of the HBO series Rome at Cinecittà - became a long-term photo-documentary engagement with the legacies and effects of antique culture, architecture and art in the 21st century. With his perfect, sometimes ironic composition of image and colour, Seiland fixes ancient buildings, landscapes and art objects in the mirror of the present and uses them as starting points for his profound visual documentation and interpretation of that culture.