Grave marker

This gallery gives an overview of grave markers and related sub-categories. For each, there is a description here and and at least one example reference picture.

This page is meant to help users categorizing images of graves. The categorization scheme 'Grave markers' is part of the Commons: Category scheme memorials, and gives documentation for Category: Grave markers and its sub-categories.

A grave marker is any permanent monument which marks a grave for the dead. The vast majority are external. The most common internal marker is the Christian church monument for which see below.

<nowiki>označevanje grobov; marqueur de tombe; grave marker; penanda kubur; grafsignalisatie; object marking the position of a burial place; tout élément érigé pour marquer l'emplacement d'une tombe; oznaka groba; marqueur de sépulture; signalement de sépulture; signalisation de tombe</nowiki>

grave marker 

object marking the position of a burial place
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Subclass of	sepulchral monument
Authority file  Q2087179 Reasonator Scholia Wikidocumentaries KML file Search depicted

Gravestones

Gravestones are the most common form of grave marker: Upright (also called a Headstone) or flat slabs of inscribed stone.

Simple headstone	Elaborate headstone	Double headstone	Cuboid gravestone	Flat graveslab

Other shapes

Grave columns

Columns or broken columns, the symbol of a life cut-short.

Full-height column	Broken column

Grave crosses

The most popular of Christian motifs.

Simple cross	Elaborate cross	Celtic cross

Grave obelisks

Tall, narrow, usually four-sided, tapering monuments ending in a small pyramidal top, some in imitation of Egyptian obelisks.

Simple obelisk	Stumpy obelisk	Elaborate obelisk

Grave stars

The Star of David is the most popular of Jewish symbols.

Grave star

External tomb chests

Tomb-style chests, sometimes called table tombs or altar tombs. They are monuments, not tombs, as the body is beneath the chest rather than within it.

Simple tomb chest	Elaborate tomb chest

Grave sculptures

A variety of sculptures, usually in stone: Statues, effigies, busts and reliefs.

Angel sculpture	Religious sculpture	Secular sculpture	Grave statue	Grave bust	Grave relief

Bronze grave sculptures

A variety of sculptures in bronze: Statues, effigies, busts and reliefs. These are not necessarily solid bronze. Particularly in Germany and surrounding areas, they may be plaster electroplated with bronze, generally called 'Galvanoplastik'.

Angel sculpture	Religious sculpture	Grave statue	Grave bust	Grave relief

Church monuments

Church monuments are architectural or sculptural memorials to dead persons within a Christian place of worship or funerary building. They come in many shapes and forms. Wall mounted versions and those with effigies are probably the best known. The grave is usually beneath the monument or nearby, or occasionally within it. However, they can also be cenotaphs. For details, see the Church monuments gallery.

See Church monuments

Funerary monuments in Islamic mausoleums

Architectural or sculptural memorials to dead persons within an Islamic funerary building.

Islamic monument

Regionally specific grave markers

Grave lanterns

Japanese stone lanterns.

Grave lantern

Gorintō

The 'five-ringed tower' Japanese grave columns.

Gorintō

Grave orbs

A grave orb is a Scandinavian petrosphere used in the Nordic Iron Age.

Grave orb

Kopjafa

A Hungarian funerary sculpture. In origin, it was a jousting lance stuck in the ground as a grave monument.

Kopjafa

Other materials

Wooden grave markers

Grave markers made of wood.

Wooden grave marker

Metal grave markers

Iron grave markers

Grave markers made of iron. Often made by the local blacksmith.

Iron grave marker

Bronze grave markers

Grave markers made of bronze, including the sculpure sub-category above.

Bronze grave marker

Grave markers by country

The main categorization scheme is repeated wholly or partially with its country qualification beneath Grave markers by country categories, such as Grave markers in Germany.

Grave markers by occupant

Some graves can be categorized by the rank or occupation of the person or people within the grave, such as Gravestones to people by occupation.