Grigorescu, Felicia: Forme de artă în cimitire evreieşti din nord-vestul Romaniei (Satu Mare, 2013)

Glosar de termeni

having a triangular prism (Pic. 16). In this case, the tomb stone changes its proportions; their ratio is around 5/1. This type of tomb is often present in the great Jewish cemeteries from towns where they reach impressive dimensions, but they are rare and modest in the smaller cemeteries from the villages. They hardly ever have adornment, a discrete incision often depicts a tree of life, and the laconic epitaph, is situated on the side facing the east. The dimensions are varied, from the most modest with one metre high and the base of 25-30cm, to one over 5 m high. They can reach the latter dimensions in the urban cemeteries, when they belong either to some leaders of the community or to priests. When they are of large dimensions, they are made of black marble. In addition, one can notice here a tendency to flatten the shape, and the tomb grows more in height and width, but less the breadth of the stone, and they become similar to the rectangular ones.

For this type of tomb stone, one can highlight more trends in developing the shape. The ones of small dimensions have smooth surfaces and are made of less costly material. The bigger their dimensions, the more fissures in the surface, the shape is split by numerous girdles which are figured or concave (Pic. 17). Certain tomb stones have adjacent some little wings figured decreasingly. These little wings can be made reverse, in other words scooped in the body of the tomb stone (Pic. 18). This type of stone has a pedestal made-up form the same precious material and elaborated with the same subtlety as the body of the stone.

These elaborated shapes more towards the height show greatness and sobriety and we can find them in the Christian cemeteries. If the modest shapes mentioned previously were called tomb stone or funeral stone, the existence of the obelisks in the towns of great dimensions would require the denomination funeral tomb (similar to the distinction made by Neolog Jews naming the synagogue -temple).

When the axis of the stone is not facetted but rounded it will give birth to a new shape, column (Pic. 19). Something specific to it is the abrupt closing, this one being gothic. This shape is spectacular, but more exquisite. Its cone, axis can be strained having at the base a sequence of profiles, shapes. The epitaph is lapidary, sometimes it is written on a square-shaped panel, adjacent the column. This type of stone can bear on it top an ornamental basin or it ends abruptly in an irregular slanting breakage, symbolizing the departure of the moribund in a violent, unexpected way. There are columns dressed in a drape, or the drape is put behind the column, pulled tight in fully plaits.

3. The vaguely architectural type (I.A.2.)

This kind of tomb stone has a vertically developed body and ends in a curved semicircle, in a sharp angle or sleek, horizontally and its perimeter presents a lighter contour in relief or darker figured, the figure sometimes suggesting the shape of some pillars or columns, other times being highlighted also the capitals. It is simpler than the previous type, but very frequent, especially in the cemeteries’ older parts. The idea that this type is retired from the elegance of the temple’s type can be advanced, the developed form of the antique civilization, in a historical step time with Hebraic communities, afterwards to be reborn with the community’s prosperity, or it is an old Hebraic type of tomb stone from which gradually more complex alternatives have developed until the baroque builds, but the basic type continued to be used by a segment of Hebraic population bare of financial means. These eventual mixers from one shape to another are

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