Pietrele de mormânt. O tristă poveste
Tomb Stones. A Sad Story

Summary/Abstract: The paper refers to tombstones inside and outside worship places. There are numerous causes for their deterioration and especially for the disappearance of many. Some causes are subjective, some fortuitous and others objective, but inexorable. The main cause for the destruction of tombstone inscriptions was their emplacement at the level of church pavements and in the space assigned mostly for burials while repeated diggings for new tombs or the replacement of pavement have affected the stratigraphy of the edifice and seriously affected their physical integrity. Many tombstones were taken out of the church where they decayed, disappeared or were repurposed. Others had the same fate despite being kept inside. The main cause for the degradation was their uncertain status: they were frequently viewed as pieces of simple pavement and not as important objects of tangible heritage. The latter case would have required a treatment similar to that of monuments in terms of maintenance, preservation, and conservation. The legitimate attitude in accord with the Christian morality – therefore leading to the protection of historical and cultural heritage – is that everyone, monk or lay people, ensures, by all means, that tombstones are kept where they belong: inside churches.

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