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

The Jewish Cemeteries at the Turn of the 20th Century

imens of funereal art representing actors in the roles of characters they once played (K 34/1). Jenő Bory's work, an enormous eagle on the Petőfi family’s tomb, was unveiled in 1911 (K 17/1). The tombstone of Sándor Péterfy (K 9) was designed by János Istók, whose notable works include the Gammel tomb, a piece that has become an emblematic monument of the military sections of Farkasrét Cemetery since it was unveiled in 1912 (F 51). In the civilian part of the same cemetery was unveiled in 1917 Béla Radnai's imposing work, the sculpture on the Lord family’s funeral monument (F 39/1). Half a century after its carving in 1913, Lajos Petri’s excellent sculpture was brought here to be set up on the artist's own tomb (F 43/2). Special mention must be made of the system of vaults built in 1900 along the Érdi út wall of Farkasrét Cemetery, a burial ground opened in 1894. Designed by Ármin Hegedűs and János Krátky, the artistically and technically unique vaults were later used as a model for the similar mural vaults of Rákoskeresztúr Cemetery. Hegedus’s designs made at the same time for the complex of a funeral parlour and some arcades were not eventually realised.

The Jewish Cemeteries at the Turn of the 20th Century

It was the fifteen-year period following the turn of the 20th century that saw the development and fruition of Béla Lajta's funereal art whose overall achievement is of outstanding national and international significance. His work which he did in the dual capacities of practising architect and the architectural commissioner of Budapest’s Jewish cemeteries in the transitional Art- Nouveau-cum-Art-Deco style was heavily influenced by the art of the ancient Near East as well as Hungary’s domestic folk art. These inspirations he combined with a traditional Jewish symbolism to create a unique formal idiom. The formerly domed but now open-topped ceremonial hall in Salgótarjáni utca Cemetery and the portal lodge there reminiscent of a medieval castle are of his design (1908—10). Chronologically the first to be set up here of the tombs designed by Lajta is the one placed over Béla Léderer’s grave in 1904, followed in 1907 by three works of a related theme: the Beimel sepulchre as well as the Guttmann and Sváb vaults. All three works imitate a gate symbolising entry into the netherworld; the gatekeepers are represented by stylized lion heads on the Guttmann vault, and two monumental eagles made of marble on the Sváb brothers' tomb. Their quiet serenity and purity of form raise the latter to the level of the finest artworks of the period.

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