Tóth Vilmos: Funeral Art - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2006)
Kerepesi út Cemetery at the Turn of the 20th Century
Kerepesi út Cemetery at the Turn of the 20th Century By the end of the 19* century, the effect of an emotionally intense Latin - and within that Italian - influence in funeral practices had gained ascendancy, which was partly due to the fashion of the Neo-Renaissance and Neo- Baroque styles and partly to the availability of funds required for expensive sepulchres. The major consequence of this was the increasingly frequent appearance of figurái tombs from the 1880s. Up to that time, funereal art had been dominated by architecture, but now the balance was tipped towards sculpture. The significance of the architectural design diminished to that of a monumental backdrop. Emblematic of the changing tendencies was the competition invited for a funeral monument to be erected for Adolf Huszár. Unveiled in 1889, Gyula Donáth's first-prize winning Moira figure became the first truly significant self-standing sepulchral sculpture set up in Kerepesi út Cemetery (K 34/1). What lent originality to the design were its pathos- filled tone and the crossing of classical with Christian symbolism; the greatest value of the statue lies in the expressive force that still radiates from it. Another major early specimen of full-size funeral sculpture stands in the most appro■ Gyula Donáth: the funeral monument of Adolf Huszár 21
