Obj. ID: 9334
Jewish Funerary Art  New Jewish Cemetery in Odobeşti, Romania

The New Jewish cemetery in Odobeşti was established in the 19th century. About a hundred tombstones dated by the late 19th and early 20th century have survived to our days. Many tombstones were made of marble, with elaborate decorations which have no connection to the traditional Jewish funerary art, but influenced by European fashion.

The striking feature of this cemetery is a large quantity of the photos of the dead, appearing on their tombstones in the early 20th century. This new tradition, originating in surrounding cultures and in the more modernized Jewish communities ofCentral Europe, influenced even traditional Jews, depicted on the photographs with their skullcaps and beards.

Among the tombstones stands a half destroyed red brick mausoleum.