Language and Architecture

Gravestone: baroque style

Language
Regarding the inscriptions of tombstones we noticed that a stylistic change in decoration and language took place around mid-18th-century. On the left you can see a stone in the baroque style combining biographical data and symbols of death like skull and bones. We have also found ornaments like sandglasses or a lot of dif-ferent flowers. In mid-18th-century the biographical data receded and became the smaller part of the inscription. As you see in the picture on the right the text became longer and phrases from literature of Storm and Stress period, Sentimentality and Romanticism as well as religious phrases became part of the inscription. As for instance seen in the picture on the right there is a phrase of Shakespeare's Hamlet combined with the religious phrase "HER BLESSED REDEEMER". Either the bereaved picked those phrases because they simply liked it or they chose them since they suggest a middle-class intellectual reception.

Inscription 19th century

Architecture
The most popular forms of tombstones and monuments are the pavilion, the pyramid/obelisk, the tumba, and the vertically erected or flat gravestone. As seen on the introduction poster the pavilion is a magnificent building which represents the higher status and financial background either of the deceased or of the bereaved. For the end of the 18th century we noticed a raise of expenses for the funeral and the monuments which seem to resemble an increasing territorial power of the British in India and maybe also a growing funeral industry. The pyramid (below on the right) or likewise the obelisk was also quite often used for higher ranks to express the social status and deep grief. The common monument of a tumba can bee seen in many cemeteries all over India. The originally simple architecture of the first developed into a highly sophiticated system of style and decoration during the 18th century. Generally, we can also see the shift from baroque decorations (sandglass, skull) until mid-18th-century to classic ornaments afterwards.