Regional Co-operation for Cultural Heritage Development
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Տարածաշրջանային համագործակցություն հանուն մշակութային ժառանգության զարգացման
Національна політика щодо культурної спадщини
Mədəni irsin inkişaf Etdimilməsi üçün regional əməkdaşlıq
Рэгіянальнае супрацоўніцтва ў мэтах развіцця культурнай спадчыны
 
E- Journal №2
Archaeological Heritage
Old Tbilisian Gravestones – the Endangered Heritage of 19th-early 20th century Georgia

Ana Shanshiashvili
Georgian Arts and Culture Center
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University

 

This fact that memorial buildings and monuments survived from the past are an indispensable part of cultural heritage, both in terms of their historic and artistic value, is beyond question. However, the vital importance of safeguarding 19th-early 20th-century gravestones is still underestimated in Georgia.

This article aims to raise question about gravestone preservation in Georgia and to draw public attention on one hand, to the historic and artistic importance of these monuments and, on the other hand, to their current condition. Gravestones are at serious risk of deterioration: the complete neglect and lack of maintenance threatens the existence of these examples of memorial culture. In this respect, it is extremely important to consider gravestone protection as a domain of heritage preservation and to incorporate this issue into heritage-related policies and management strategies. This in itself is a hoped-for step forward toward creating designation and listing criteria of the memorial cultural object to be safeguarded.

Given the fact that 19th-early 20th-century gravestones are characterized by wide territorial distribution and are found in almost every region of Georgia, this paper will concentrate only on examples preserved in the historic cemeteries of Kukia and St Peter and Paul’s cemeteries in Tbilisi. The particular choice is further justified by the unusual richness and diversity of the characters found among the “portrait galleries” at these cemeteries, typical of the old Tbilisian culture.


The Historic and Artistic Value of 19th-early 20th-century Gravestones

The 19th century in Georgia marked the turning point between the late Middle Ages and the earliest appearance of the subsequent urban culture, which brought secular changes to the Weltanschauung of society, shifting the focus toward the individual, personal, and existential. This, in turn, raised the importance of portraiture. In this respect, the change in the gravestone adornment system, which happened in the 18th century from the previous simple and schematic decoration (texts and a few symbols/ornaments) to full-length portrait representation and the whole accompanying set of attributes, perfectly encompassed the time-related overall tendency.

During the 19th century up the early 20th century this type of gravestones imagery, distinguished by an unusual creative impulse, became common throughout the Caucasus and more specifically, in nearly every region of Georgia. This system was marked by the formation of an entire ‘’iconographic“ program of image-signs and symbols and the “formula” of the deceased’s body representation, which in turn can be regarded as a continuation of the medieval donor portraiture tradition and the “folk style” widespread in Georgia from the 14th century up through the Late Middle Ages. These gravestones usually featured the full-height body of the deceased, presented frontally, with hands crossed. Special emphasis was given to the deceased’s clothing and attributes, which varied in accordance with age, social class and profession, e.g., spinning and weaving tools next to the gravestone portrait comments on the life of a craftswoman; weapons emphasize a warrior, the plough a farmer. Moreover, these images were universal to the representatives of every level of society from the noble families to farmers and craftspeople and, therefore, were widespread both in village graveyards and big-city cemeteries.

Perhaps the most striking images are to be found in Tbilisi at the old Kukia and St Peter and Paul’s church cemeteries. Although little is known of the emergence and development of these two cemeteries, their history appears to have begun in the 18th century at the latest. However, the vast majority of old gravestones date back to the 19th-early 20th centuries. Contrary to village graveyards where the clothing of the deceased is mostly traditional – men in chokhas and women in traditional headgear (chikhtikopi) and dresses, the capital city’s cemeteries display a peculiar mixture of old and new, of local styles and “imported” ones. Here, one will still come across abandoned, displaced stone slabs, depicting peculiar old Tbilisian characters, such as kintos, karachogels and people dressed in traditional or European styles. Brought together these carved images speak not just of a particular period flavor, but also reflect the rich multiethnic and multicultural patchwork for which Old Tbilisi was famous.


The Existing Situation in Kukia and St Peter and Paul’s Cemeteries

Given the fact that Kukia and St. Peter and Paul’s cemeteries were intensively used in later years, the old graves, which “have lost the appearance of graves, last used for burials more than 20 years ago”[1] have long been reused. As long as the issue of old gravestone protection in itself is not regulated by local law, the 19th-early 20th-century stones have been displaced from their initial places and are scattered around the cemeteries. Consequently, it is hardly surprising that damage such as stone weathering and vegetation-cladding – both due to the complete neglect and the deterioration caused by man-made factors– are so frequently found. One will come across several turned and broken stones in the most remote and polluted areas of the cemeteries.


International Experience and Practice in Historic Cemetery and Gravestone Protection as a Part of Cultural Heritage Preservation Strategies

“The inscriptions on memorials, the design of monuments, the choice of stones, the architecture of buildings and the landscape design shed light on past social customs and events and combine to make a cemetery an irreplaceable historical resource“states Paradise Preserved: An introduction to the assessment, evaluation, conservation and management of historic cemeteries, published by English Heritage in 2007.[2] The existence of the particular guidelines, as well as many related initiatives[3] and a series of other publications[4] in themselves reflect a proper understanding of the value and importance of the preservation of historic cemeteries and gravestones in international conservation practice. Moreover, the preservation concerns not just the memorial building and monuments, but also the plants and the whole landscape of the cemeteries. Therefore international surveys of the historic cemeteries often incorporate:

  • Documentary research into written descriptions, maps and plans of the site;
  • Architectural surveys
  • Monument and sculpture surveys (including artists’ names)
  • Geological interest surveys
  • Biographical surveys of the people buried in the cemetery, including social, ethnic or religious groups, or notable individuals
  • Landscape design surveys
  • Ecological surveys
  • Survey of the local community’s views on what they value and how they would like to be involved etc.[5]

Furthermore, the elaborated legislative frameworks applied in international practice regulate protection of both whole territories of historic cemeteries and also some singled-out monuments and stones as cultural heritage objects to be surveyed, designated, conserved and maintained.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that both Kukia and St Peter and Paul’s graveyards are among old Tbilisian cemeteries, due to the chaotic development and intensive use in subsequent years, chances to designate the whole territory as a historic cemetery, look bleak. However, the listing and protection of singled-out stones applied in international practices can be seen as a possibility. In this regard it is important to note that the international conservation approach gives much emphasize to the preservation of on-site memorial objects. Following this reasoning, the displacement of the stones is acceptable only temporarily and in very few cases, which are conditioned by the urgency of conservation needs. Sometimes, when it is impossible to return a number of monuments to their original location, which is the case with Kukia and Peter and Paul’s 19th and early 20th-century gravestones, it is recommended that “they should be placed in a group and identified accordingly.”[6]

In view of the existing situation in the Kukia and St Peter and Paul’s cemeteriesand also considering international conservation experience, it seems extremely important to raise public awareness of the historic cemeteries and old gravestones in Georgia: they should be viewed as cultural heritage to be protected. In this respect, it is vital to incorporate the issue of historic cemetery/gravestone preservation in cultural heritage preservation policies and strategies, which in turn, will promote further listing and preventive interventions. Among the particular activities to be carried out to preserve the gravestones at Kukia and St Peter and Paul’s cemeteries can be considered:(1) the survey of remaining 19th to early 20th-century stones, and(2) the cleaning/conservation works and their placement in groups in specific sections of the cemeteries. These particular sections can also be seen as “cemetery museums” in which to display the history of old Tbilisian cemeteries.

All these measures are of great significance as these tangible expressions of an intangible local culture are under the serious danger of deterioration. It is our primary responsibility to ensure that these graven images, which reflect the spirit of old Tbilisi, its history and multicultural diversity, are maintained for future generations.

 



[1] Changes in the local governments decision 2000, 28 July, N11-4 on the approval of general rules of the arrangement and care of cemeteries in Tbilisi, 52.

[2]Paradise Preserved (An introduction to the Assessment, evaluation, conservation and management of historical Cemeteries); English Heritage 2007, pp. 2.

[3]The Association for Gravestone Studies (USA)http://www.gravestonestudies.org/ ; National Federation of Cemetery Friends www.cemeteryfriends.org.uk; Cemetery Research Group: www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/crg;

[4]Dunk, J and Rugg, J 1994 The Management of Old Cemetery Land: Now and the Future. London: Shaw & Sons; Historic Scotland 2001 Conservation of Historic Graveyards, Edinburgh: Historic Scotland. 
National Trust Guidelines for Cemetery Conservation, the National Trust of Australia, 2009;

[5]Paradise Preserved (An introduction to the Assessment, evaluation, conservation and management of historical Cemeteries); English Heritage 2007, pp. 19

[6]National Trust Guidelines for Cemetery Conservation, the National Trust of Australia, 2009, pp.95

Gravestone, Kukia Cemetery, Tbilisi. Photo by: Guram Tsibakhashvili
Gravestone, Kukia Cemetery, Tbilisi. Photo by: Guram Tsibakhashvili
Gravestone, Kukia Cemetery, Tbilisi. Photo by: Guram Tsibakhashvili
Gravestone, St. Peter and Paul’s Cemetery, Tbilisi. Photo by: Ana Shanshiashvili
Gravestone, Kukia Cemetery, Tbilisi. Photo by: Guram Tsibakhashvili
Gravestone, St. Peter and Paul’s Cemetery, Tbilisi. Photo by: Ana Shanshiashvili
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