It’s all Egyptian to me

The hieroglyphics on this stone appear to be accurate – the Woodland Cemetery website mentions that a translation exists in the office. There’s not a lot of information about who Marjorie Jones was other than a description of “insurance agent.”

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A Grave Concern: He’s an Egyptian!

It’s been a while since I wrote about this, so on the anniversary of the opening of King Tutankhamen’s tomb, let’s look at some more examples of the Egyptian Revival style in funerary art. The United States and Europe were already pretty fascinated by ancient Egypt before 1922, so the discovery of the rich tomb attracted international attention. Some of that fascination was reflected in their cemeteries.

The light was better on this side of the Rice monument to show you the motif that runs all the way around the top edge.

The previous two examples are from Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. The last one is from Harrisburg Cemetery (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), and was so close to the cliffs at the edge that I could only photograph it from the side.

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Rest like an Egyptian…

In the mid-19th century, strange architectural designs started appearing in American cemeteries. Copying the ancient Egyptian temples and tombs, American architects created monuments and mausoleums that harkened back to those pre-Christian ideas of death and rebirth. The Egyptian revival movement spawned a plethora of monuments with images like the circle with vulture wings (sun), twin cobras (death), Sphinxes, and even hieroglyphics. Lake View Cemetery has a number of examples.

The winged circle and cobras are clearly visible on the King mausoleum just above the door. Ignoring the snow, one could easily see that entrance on an ancient Egyptian building.

The Pollock mausoleum has the same set of symbols and column-edged entrance.

The Towslee monument lacks the columns but still has the cobras and sun.

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