Everything seems a bit louder and more obvious in a Catholic cemetery. Here the name of the family is very large; the cross decorations are big (you would not find crosses at all on a Doric mausoleum in a Protestant cemetery), and even the cornices are fat and obvious. We should also mention artificial flowers even on the most expensive mausoleums, because nothing can discourage the faithful from leaving artificial flowers.
The shape of this particular mausoleum is interesting. The details are classical and the decorations are Christian, but the shape is much more like the shape of the Egyptian temples Masons liked to build for themselves. We almost never find the Egyptian style in a Catholic cemetery, but we find echoes of it in the forms of some mausoleums.
Statues of Hope (with anchor) and Faith (with book) guard the entrance. Faith has grown a good crop of shield lichens.
Obviously old Pa Pitt likes this mausoleum. He took quite a few more pictures, but most of them are variations on the same themes. These should be just about enough to convey a good impression of the style and decorations.
One response to “Friday Mausoleum, Calvary Cemetery”
[…] Doric in its details and very Christian in its symbolism, but the overall shape of this mausoleum is similar to that of many of the Egyptian mausoleums that were popular at the same time. The entrance is flanked by statues of Hope and Faith. [Update: The pictures Father Pitt took in 2014 went down with the image host where they were stored; these pictures are from 2022. More pictures are at our more recent article.] […]