A photo-story/fact sheet resource set that introduces students to some of the structures we see in heritage cemeteries and the meanings they held for our ancestors that are often hidden from us today.

Cemetery Symbolism Part 1

Structural Symbols

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.

The many historic cemeteries that dot our towns and countryside leave us a legacy of history, art and culture, which today, we struggle to understand.

These cemeteries are places where our ancestors and loved ones rest and where we today can make contact with the past by observing and coming to understand the beliefs, attitudes, and deeper meanings that are embedded in the material culture and literature of the past.

Grave memorials have long come in a range of varieties and shapes. This resource presents some that can be found in our local cemeteries.

Introduction

Stelae are a very traditional shape of cemetery memorial having been used as funerary markers in antiquity.

Stelae were generally erected upright. There is normally only one side of a stele that bears the inscription about the deceased. The shape allows for considerable scope for a variety of decoration.

Stelae can be found in many shapes and sizes from rectangular with domed, arched, pointed or curved tops and are of an even thickness

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Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.

Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.

Betteridge, 2005.

Obelisks are four sided tapered columns Capped with a pyramidal shape Crafted from a single piece of stone.

The shape originated in ancient Egypt Pairs were placed in front of temples of the Sun God Ra. They were symbols of everlasting life, fertility and regeneration.

Obelisks also represent status and position of the deceased as they stand out in our cemetery landscape. They are commonly found and were most popular during the 1890s. They are usually made of granite but can also be found in limestone.

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Seaton, L. (2004)Both at Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.

Broken columns were deliberately made structures that indicate a life unfinished when cut short by death at an early age.

They are easy symbols to interpret because they were frequently used when the deceased or the family breadwinner had died at a young age or had met an accident.

Broken columns can often be found decorated with a wreath of flowers symbolising the untimely death of a woman.

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Seaton, L. (2004)

Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.

Oamaru Cemetery, North Otago.

The Latin cross has a longer upright than cross bar.

It is the shape of cross on which Christ was crucified.

For this reason it is used to symbolise the death of Christ. The Latin Cross is one of the most common symbols to be found in our cemeteries.

Often a Latin Cross is mounted on three steps. These steps represent the Christian virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. This cross is also called the Calvary Cross.

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Keister, D. (2004)

Anderson’s Bay Cemetery, Dunedin.

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.

The Celtic cross has a single cross bar with a circle or solid wheel at the intersection of the bar and upright.

Celtic crosses pre-date Christianity by several hundred years. It is a symbol usually found on the graves where the deceased originally came from Scotland or Ireland.

A Celtic cross is usually very tall. Some are plain while others are ornately decorated with Victorian symbolism or carved with Celtic interweaving designs.

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Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.

Palmerston Cemetery, East Otago.

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esOrthodox cross

This is the Eastern Orthodox Cross or Russian Cross.

These three crosses commemorate the White Russians buried in Invercargill’s Eastern Cemetery and are unusual in New Zealand.

This cross has two horizontal arms and a third angled cross bar below the main crossbar.

Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill.

Alter tombs are flat inscribed slabs of stone supported on raised brick or cement walls, or sometimes on solid blocks of brick or stone.

These tombstones were fashionable before 1900 and are unusual after that time. They are often difficult to maintain as they can easily break with soil subsidence.

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Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.

Above & right Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.

(Betteridge 2005).

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Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch.

Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.

A sarcophagus is a container or box-shaped form that is tapered towards the base and looks as though it should contain the deceased. Most usually the deceased are buried below the ornamental box-like structure.

These structures featured may also be called chest tombs. The sarcophagus below is dated to 5th century, AD in Serjilla, Syria.

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This unusual memorial looks like a stone table with four legs. Some examples have six legs. The deceased’s surname in this example is added in the form of a name-plate on the end for easy viewing. Some examples have an epitaph inscribed on the table top.

These tombs do not stand up to wear and tear well over time. The stone tops are liable to bow and break. This particular example is suffering from subsidence on the right hand side.

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.

Karori Cemetery,

Wellington.

A mausoleum is an enclosed structure in which burial of a whole family is usual. Mausoleums reflect a number of building styles. In this example the mausoleum on the left is built in the gothic style and those to the right in the classical style with impressive columns from the classical period.

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ResourcesResources used in the development of these slides

Betteridge, C. (2005). Conservation Plans: Northern and Southern Cemeteries. Unpublished report for Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust of New Zealand.

Keister, D. (2004). Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. Gibbs Smith Publisher. Salt Lake City.

Sagazio, C. (1992) Cemeteries: Our Heritage. National Trust of Australia.

Seaton, L. (2004) Timaru Cemetery: Messages in Stone. A Guide to the meanings of the symbols on headstones. South Canterbury Museum.

Tyler, L. (No Date). The broken lily and the grim reaper’s scythe: The iconography of Victorian and Edwardian Gravestones in the Northern Cemetery. Presentation Notes. Director of the Centre for New Zealand Art, Research & Discovery. University of Auckland.Acknowledgement

Special thanks is extended to Fiona Hyland, Heritage Rose Society of Dunedin, for her help and assistance with identification and meanings behind many cemetery symbols in Dunedin’s Northern Cemetery.