Grigorescu, Felicia: Forme de artă în cimitire evreieşti din nord-vestul Romaniei (Satu Mare, 2013)
Glosar de termeni
- cracked, which flakes away in layers, due to their composition, but are on their feet, in their original place, frequently keeping the shape but the background and the epitaph are most of the time completely damaged;- restored, the stones that were recovered and placed on their original place, most of the times the operation requiring masterly skill, the junction is barely visible. For the consolidation of broken or cracked stones were used rivets or metal mounting beads;- replaced with new stones, which often do not have the original form of the monument. Many times the old stone has been preserved, lying along grave at the base of the new one. I have explained the preservation state that differs highly in tombstones, for that research should also consider the these damaged stones that contain information relating to both the deceased and the indices of monuments shape, even if a recovery is necessary. A serious problem that affects the funeral stones in Jewish cemeteries, in their great majority closed for tens of years, thanks to disappearance of Jewish population, is vegetation: ivy, shrubs, trees grown tall, which develop their roots among the graves, covering degrading, overturning and hurling them (Pic. 61). In order to avoid such a situation, in the functional graveyards, the removal of vegetation has been attempted. That is the case of the Orthodox cemetery in Satu Mare where in the year 2008 has been carried out a wide action of grubbing. The research has shown a tendency toward woody plants and shrubs abundance in urban cemeteries Pic.. 62). The smaller cemeteries with no woody vegetation were better preserved. Sometimes on the monument can be seen some pebbles placed on top. This is a Jewish tradition, representing a sign of respect for deceased; and reminder, the equivalent in the rite of Christian funeral services of flower offering, gerbe or crowns. In the praxis and ritual of the Jewish funeral there were no flowers offered. For a change the representation on monuments of carved single flowers, as one piece, in bunches, in different vases, garlands or as crowns, is frequent especially in urban Jewish cemeteries. Tomb stone plasticity in the post-emancipation period comes to exceed the centennial tradition most important, and from simple stone set into ground it reaches pseudo-court side-by-side, bounded by enclosures. They have an exclusively decorative purpose, a series of elements in their composition are intended to the presence flowers: vases and pots, in original representations even competitor-spectacular, placed either around the tomb stone or at the base of the access openings or on top of them. In the analysis of Jewish funeral plasticity in the north-west Romania, the study also decided to pursue the shape of tomb stone, the structure of its components and their distribution on its surface. These features define a specific artistic expression, but in which are present elements found also in the Non-Jewish cemeteries, from close or distant places. The stylistic evolution of Jewish cemeteries in north-west Romania during the studied period, is mainly determined by the study of pseudo-architectural elements which give birth to the monuments and secondary by representation of plastic elements of background. In an analysis of the origin of Jews in north-west Romania, according to some opinions77, they seem to belong to two distinct branches. The Jewish people from 75 75M. Moldovan, Sinagoga.Arliitectură a monoteismului. Bucureşti, Ed. Paideia. 2003, p. 102, (From now on: Sinagoga...) 108
