Photograph: Headstone

European Jews

Warsaw province, Łowiczsky district, city Łowicz

1909

Gelatin silver printing with chemical development (DOP)

16,8 x 11,5

РЭМ 2254-1

The matsevah (headstone) was erected one year after the death of the late person. As a rule, it was shaped like a vertical stele of stone, less frequently of wood. The flowering of Jewish stonecutting art was in the 18th and early 19th century. As time went on, due to the growth of population (and death rate growth, respectively) and impoverishment of the shtetl Jews, the bas-reliefs were becoming less profound and diverse, often differing just in epitaphs. A stonecutter made tombstones throughout the year, and in the selling season (in autumn) he drove about neighboring villages and shtetls selling crosses and matsevas. The products of master stonecutters were not limited to gravestones. They made pavement slabs too, and construction elements (steps, beams, decoration elements), gate posts, stone chutes, and well rings. Among their works were also Christian tombstones.