Category Archives: Tombs

An exedra is a semi-circular structure, often with a bench with a high back. Sometimes there is an architectural feature in the center of the exedra, often with statuary or the family name.  In this example, the doric columns and … Continue reading →

Conrad Stubenbord  Nov. 23, 1848 July 22, 1913 Ernestine Stubenbord Sept 12, 1847 Dec 21, 1936 The Stubenbord-Sutherland rose-colored polished granite monument in the Green-Wood Cemetery at Brooklyn, New York, is an example of an exedra.  An exedra is a … Continue reading →

Chest tombs which were common in 19th Century American graveyards were also referred to as false crypts because the coffin was not inside the chest tomb, but buried underneath underground.  This chest tomb is not in the traditional box-shaped false crypt but … Continue reading →

Chest tombs were first popularized in Europe.  The tombs resembled a chest or trunk, often with an effigy of the deceased lying in repose on top.  The Tomb of Vasco de Gama (c.1460-1524) buried at the Monastery of Jeronimos at … Continue reading →

Sarcophagus tombs are designed to look like coffins.  Most often they are set on a platform or a base.  The tomb is often embellished with ornamentation and nearly always has feet–but the “coffin” is empty–just an empty symbol of the … Continue reading →

Cast iron became much less expensive in the second half of the 19th Century coupled with the ease of making more intricate patterns and designs.  Simple wrought iron adorning many of the homes, commercial buildings, and apartment buildings in New … Continue reading →

The stately light-gray granite James H. McNulty monument in the Forest Lawn Cemetery at Buffalo, New York, was designed to resemble a similiar monument in France.  The monument’s dome is supported by Corinthinian columns forming a circular colonnade or peristyle.   The … Continue reading →