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The Art Behind Grave Markers

For people who’ve wandered through cemeteries before, it’s easy to wonder what the various designs carved on grave markers mean and who made them.
Thousands of different non-spiritual and spiritual symbols have been embellished on grave markers through the ages indicating attitudes towards death and the afterlife. What people might not know is that most of these grave markers weren’t designed by grave marker companies that use machines. Instead, they were made by individual artisans.


Video Source

According to this video Daniel Rossi a sculptor from Carrara, Italy, learned the trade by working eight hours a day for six days a week for 13 years until his move to the US, where he started carving grave markers using stone embellished with Jesus Christ among other things.
This is an art that takes a lot of time to perfect, and according to Rossi, mistakes made on stone can’t be undone, so the sculptor needs a new piece of marble to carve. The art of grave marking and sculpting other things by hand is a dying art, and artisans are concerned that in the coming decades, there won’t be people to continue the craft.