Tóth Vilmos: Funeral Art - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2006)

Kerepesi út Cemetery at the Turn of the 20th Century

■ The granite lion by Alajoi Stróbl on the tomb oh Dezió Szilágyi

a lion on the top of the building, bespeak a sure hand but somewhat less lively imagination. In its details, the mausoleum has great value as a work of applied arts. For this credit is due to the designer of the bronze gate Gyula Jungfer, the creator of the interior's marble sarcophagus Kálmán Gerster, and the master of mosaics and stained-glass windows Miksa Róth. The building of the mausoleum itself is also designed by Gerster, who also made never-realised plans for a graveyard around the mausoleum for the heroes of 1848. Also designed by Kálmán Gerster, the tombstone of Alajos Stróbl fell victim to the destructions of World War 11; set up in 1971, Stróbl's present-day sepulchre features a copy of a youthful self-portrait in relief (K 26/1).

György Zala, Stróbl's great rival, was the other most-employed sculptor of the period. An outstanding representative of Zala’s funeral works is the tomb of Ákos Beöthy unveiled in 1906 (K 28). Representing a mourning warrior, the fine marble figure on the tomb is a familiar motif of Hungary’s national, and within that funeral, sculpture. Zala’s choice is a typical exam25