Tanatotopografia Ostródy
Thanatotopography of Ostróda

Summary/Abstract: Due to the particularly strong and varied emotional charge culturally associated with the end of human life, memorial sites related to death stand out within the broader category of sites of memory as a distinct subject of study. Their physiognomy and spatial distribution are described by thanatotopography. The aim of this article is to characterize the thanatotopography of Ostróda, considering both affective and spatial aspects. For the purposes of the study, field research and two individual interviews were conducted. A total of 61 sites of memory were identified. Of these, 29 were classified as related to death – 7 cemeteries and 22 monuments. In Ostróda, monuments that foreground death materialize emotions such as grief, gratitude and anger. The largest concentration of sites of memory, both those related to death and those unrelated to it, is in the central part of the city, overlapping with its functional and service centre. Monuments related to death are found predominantly in cemeteries and near churches, which underscores the significance of the sacred in traditional practices of commemorating the dead. Monuments unrelated to death are situated in more diverse and almost entirely secular locations and settings.

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