CEMETERIES
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Created on Thursday, 15 November 2007 16:03
Modern Polish cemeteries have become a building monolith. At first sight they all look sad but not because it is the place of burial but due to its architecture which does not actually have an architectural character but a building one. It is just a stony desert. One can hardly notice any family tombs which were designed by sculptors.
Many cemeteries of high artistic values were destroyed and one of the few in Wroclaw which has been left is a Jewish cemetery at Slezna Street where I have my workshop. Every day I can see many great architectural and artistic (sculptural) works. There are very hard stones like Gabra, granites, sienites, as well as sandstones, soft, marbles. Surprisingly, the marbles from Carrara have not been destroyed to a great extent.
Do we have anything like our own Polish pattern-designing? Can anything like Polish modern tomb exist? Tradition, or symbolism we can meet at Polish cemeteries may serve as an inspiration but if it comes to the quality the situation may be more difficult. In Germany, for example, the tombs are made very well. Perhaps it is a consequence of the fact that there are more people (than in Poland) employed in making a tomb. A stonemason makes elements in a tomb and a sculptor makes his own work. In Poland it is often so that one person does everything: from the start to the end.
Sometimes one element is enough to make a tomb live. It is not a common slab any more. In Germany, for example, horizontal covers of a burial chamber are not very popular. They have been replaced by flowers and green.
As regards colours used at cemeteries, more colourful stones represent the latest trend. It is good, but we should look at it from a different point of view. We should take advantage of this colour. Once I was asked to make a tomb and the people who chose me to do it wanted the stone to show their attitude towards the dead. I suggested building this tomb using hard limestone. It was a tomb made of Jura Marmur Scal Gelt marble, which is a yellow limestone. The whole design was to show the lack of grief. The use of colours must have its purpose, it cannot be accidental, it must complete the whole so that the content is clear.
The main motifs of Polish tombs are: a cross, a book and a figure.
Tombs should be designed by sculptors or other artists, who feel the stone since stone has both plastic and metaplastic values.
SK nr 49-2007