Much of what we post on JHE centers on the conservation of Jewish cemeteries and gravestones.
We would like to draw attention today to a particularly comprehensive web site that is a wealth of how-to and best practice information about the conservation of gravestones — http://www.gravestonepreservation.info
It is run by a monuments and gravestone conservator in the United States, and like the web site of the Association for Gravestone Studies the examples are almost exclusively drawn from the experience in historic cemeteries in North America. Still, the information is applicable to Jewish cemeteries in Europe.
It not only describes hands-on techniques in how-to form, but it also provides a glossary of terminology involved in gravestone work.
This includes spelling out the difference between “preservation,” “restoration,” and “conservation”:
- Preservation: To preserve, to keep safe from harm or injury. A great general purpose word to overview the whole field of historic preservation.
- Restoration: To Restore, to bring back to an original or a former, more desirable condition. The layman’s term for fixing anything up, and try to make it look new again. It also implies, doing more then just preserving, regarding a memorial or stone statue.The re-lettering of historic inscriptions on a gravestone or tomb would be a good example of a restoration effort. This type of aggressive tactics is not considered beneficial, as they will compromise the historic integrity of the object. Re-lettering may also increase the rate of deterioration by exposing new areas of weakened stone to the weather.
A better alternative would be to save what is left of the monument in question, and then place a plaque beside it with the inscription which has been lost. - Conservation: To Conserve, to prevent injury, decay, waste, or loss of.This has become the proper term, with its meaning in the historic preservation field becoming very specific. Performing procedures to help protect and stabilize an artifact. In this case a sculpture, gravestone, or monument.
1 comment on “Cemetery/Gravestone conservation — a how-to resource”
ilnytse ukraine grave presevation-near munkacs is in terrible conservation condition.weeds,woods,graves falling over,broken stones.