Monumental masonry
Monumental masonry (also known as memorial masonry) is a kind of
Cultural significance
In Christian cultures, many families choose to mark the site of a
.The headstone is typically arranged after the burial. The choice of materials (typically a long-lasting kind of stone, such as
As a craft
Unlike the work of most
By the beginning of the twentieth century the craft had deteriorated to the point that Lawrence Weaver felt compelled to write, "To-day many of the persons who are curiously called 'monumental masons' bring to their task neither educated taste nor the knowledge of good historical examples; they are often, moreover, incompetent in their craftmanship. The more important shops which purvey marble monuments are, if anything, rather worse, for they stereotype bad designs, which are the more offensive because more ambitious and costly. The clerical tailors who sell most of the engraved brasses have mainly succeeded in making that form of memorial the most dreary. All three sources of supply have added a new terror to death."[2]
Monumental masons
References
- ^ a b Monumental Masons
- ^ Weaver, Lawrence, Memorials and Monuments: Old and New: Two hundred subjects chosen from seven centuries, Published at the offices of "Country Life", London, 1915 p. 1-2