Pivko D. & Sláviková V., 2013: Natural stones and types of tombstones in National cemetery in Martin from half of the 19^th to half of the 20^th century. Acta Geologica Slovaca, 5, 2, 163–177. (in Slovak with English summary)

Dekoračné kamene a typy náhrobníkov na Národnom cintoríne v Martine od polovice 19. storočia do pol. 20. stor.

Natural stones and types of tombstones in National cemetery in Martin from half of the 19^th to half of the 20^th century

Daniel Pivko¹ & Viera Sláviková²

¹Katedra geológie a paleontológie, Prírodovedecká fakulta, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave, Mlynská dolina G, 842 15 Bratislava; pivko@fns.unia.sk
²SZŠ, Odborov 244/8, 017 01 Považská Bystrica; fides@centrum.sk

Abstract

About 500 tombstones from National cemetery in Martin were carried out. The cemetery represents section through sepulchral architecture in the 19^th and 20^th centuries and records history of natural stones use and tombstone evolution. From c. 1850, classicistic steles were produced from Gerecse marble and Banská Bystrica sandstone. Historicist steles of Silesian marble were imported from 1870s. End of 1880s years, variability of tombstone appearance began to grow. Outlined text, carved text fields, ornaments and new typefaces were emerged. In 90s years Carrara marble is imported. Real variousness of tombstone face is typical for first 20 years of the 20^th century, when hard natural stones (Silesian granite, Swedish dolerite, and Norwegian larvikite) are widely used. Besides them domestic Cenozoic conglomerates, Banská Bystrica sandstone and Bohemian Hořice sandstone were utilized. From 20s years to half of the century, variability of natural stones decreased at the expense of Swedish dolerite. Variety of tombstone shapes grew from decorated secession steles, through geometric functionalistic compositions, to simple tabular tombstones.

Key words: Slovakia, National cemetery in Martin, tombstone types, 19^th century, 20^th century, natural stones

Manuscript received: 2013-02-27

Revised version accepted: 2013-11-18