Principles of typology of graveside monuments in the city cemeteries

The article is devoted to the principles of typology of graveside monuments in the city cemeteries. The very funeral rites were of great importance in the ethnography of Russian, but several material aspects haven't been fully studied. Principles of typology of graveside monuments in the city cemeteries are also included in the list of little-studied problems, as there have not been developed a unified approach to study of principles of typology. Therefore, the author starts his research with analysing the literature devoted to architectural forms. Architectural objects reflect not just the aesthetic preferences of the people, well-being of the people and the social structure, but their own distinctive features. According to A.V. Opolovnikova, a specialist in ancient Russian wooden architecture, all graveside monuments can be divided into commemorative crosses and tombstones. Classification of stone crosses, written by I.A. Shlyapkin and A. A. Spitsyn are well-known and are used nowadays. The basis of Spitsyn's typology is the principle of the functional purpose of the cross. I.A. Shlyapkin proposed semantic and religious meaning of the monument as the criteria to his classification. We can say, that the works of these scientists are the first works in typology and fixation of material components in the cemeteries. In our work we study graveside monuments, particularly. The archeological data give us the possibility to study graveside monuments in city cemeteries. According to the results of T.D. Panova, we can say that the basic type of monuments in mediaeval Russia was the tombstone. The author also makes the classification according to the form of the tombstones. He classifies them as rectangular, trapezoid, navicular and block. Rectangular monument were not widely used in funeral rites. The stone flags are more various in their ornaments. T.D. Panova states that starting from XIV-XV centuries stone crosses started to appear and become very popular (especially in Novgorod). But there is no enough scientific ground to talk about any classification or typology. That is why the author considers it reasonable to suggest his own variant of classification of graveside monuments in city cemeteries. The main criteria is the form of the monument: the cross, the stela, the obelisk, the commemoration stone, the monuments of difficult architecture forms, the head portraits, the bust, the monument and the memorial complexes. Then all these types of graveside monuments cab be classified according to different criteria as the material, the architectural peculiarities of the monument, chronological frame or fashion trends. The author concludes, that if we take as the main criteria the material of the monument, we can say that the monument is set up later, when the financial possibility and the wide range of material appear.

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