Gravestones were used by the people to build houses

Submitted by ValdisPunk t3_yuikp1 in history

Gravestones were used by the people of Cluj-Napoca in the construction of many houses. The city wall was sold in the 18th century and people bought the stones with the commitment to demolish it, and then obviously used those stones to build new houses. This is also the case of a plaque that can be found at house no. 15 on Baba Novac Street - "Itt fekszik Pécsi Tölcséres János leánya, Kata. AD 1585" - "Here lies Kata, daughter of Pécsi Tölcséres János". The year 1585 coincided with one of the worst plague epidemics to hit Cluj-Napoca and the city administration decided that from that year onwards they would no longer allow burials inside the city walls. That is practically the year in which the current central cemetery, Hajongard, was inaugurated.

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britinnit t1_iwb3nxm wrote

It was common where I live, North West England. For old gravestones to be re purposed as paving stones for footpaths around church grounds and official buildings. Theirs a few near my house and some sections of the path you can just make out the etchings of the dates and names.

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archangel_urea t1_iwb5hk2 wrote

Heol Fanog, Wales. Apparently , the house was built using grave stones.

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TheProfessionalEjit t1_iwb7q1p wrote

Came here with exactly this comment!

Have you been listening to The Witch House on BBC Sounds? 11/10 would listen again.

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JuanDiablos t1_iwbxcln wrote

I think it's The Witch Farm not House.

I love that guys ghost podcasts. I 100% do not believe in ghosts at all but for some reason I love listening to this stuff.

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Omg_stop t1_iwbp7do wrote

This did my head in when I first moved here. It was so disrespectful and made the names vanish faster than they would naturally (anti-kuros). Now it's just a all a bit "meh" and I've resigned to the nature of mortality.

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Uncleniles t1_iwb2sto wrote

So did people building the houses take the stones directly from the cemetery or was the city wall built with the gravestones?

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ValdisPunk OP t1_iwb5is0 wrote

Often people were buried in the city walls.

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enfiel t1_iwgzlmx wrote

Good old rarely talked about occidental tradition of human sacrifice to keep walls stable.

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Half_a_bee t1_iwba0zs wrote

Right around where I live there was a stone circle in the iron age. When they were rebuilding it in the 50s/60s they found a lot of the original stone slabs on nearby farms, used as stepping stones, tables, etc. for hundreds of years.

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milkmamasilk t1_iwbbcju wrote

So no one in history ever knew about poltergeists? Disturb a burial ground AND use the grave markers to build the house...you want poltergeists??? Cause that's how you get poltergeists.

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Farinthoughts t1_iwbvnld wrote

I saw a documentary once where they were talking about how after WWII and the liberation of the concentration camps, when they were demolishing them - locals would come in and take the building materials (bricks and such) and build houses out of them.

"authorities noted that locals had dismantled most of the remaining camp buildings, reusing parts of them in their own houses."

Edit : Sobibor

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milkmamasilk t1_iwgz7mx wrote

Whelp...file that under begging for Poltergeists? Poltergeists don't seem to care about circumstances. Gravesites don't seem to inspire deference. Having recently driven on a highway through one that spanned acres...I know noone is really scared of them anymore.

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Farinthoughts t1_iwh2zw1 wrote

I am not really scared of them but certainly respectful when I visit one.

My mother usually says there is no need to be afraid in a graveyard because everyone there is already dead. I think she means living humans are what you should be afraid of.

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milkmamasilk t1_iwiy3ra wrote

Yes, fine.... just don't walk away with the grave marker and use it for construction. RUDE and might get you a case of angry spirits.

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Farinthoughts t1_iwj1b26 wrote

Sometimes grave markers are removed and destroyed though by the caretakers for several reason. Its a bit upsetting to see them.

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milkmamasilk t1_iwj1m3c wrote

Bot what do you mean?

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Farinthoughts t1_iwj92tp wrote

A coffin might have to be moved or there are no family members alive anymore - oh any number of reasons. Hence no need for a gravemarker anymore. We might believe our final resting place will be for eternity but often it is not.

What I mean is the graveyard caretakers has to do this but I dont think they are more prone to haunting than any other person. I am half a skeptic to the existance of ghosts.

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escalinci t1_iwbbgaz wrote

The only historical thing I saw while in Cluj was the apothecary museum, I never saw anything like this, interesting!

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ValdisPunk OP t1_iwbbpum wrote

Yeah, there are plenty of historical places here, and not only here but in Romania... you just need to search a little bit more to find them. Sadly promoting historical landmarks and stories of the past aside of a fiew is not Romania's strong suit.

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prpslydistracted t1_iwbkazk wrote

Can't for the life of me remember the book but I read an autobiography of a frontier woman (late 1800s, Midwest) who lost a young daughter. She hired a laborer to help her move a stone step from the only primitive church around; she used it as a grave marker for her daughter and carved the name and dates herself. Poignant confession. The settlement knew it was her but didn't act on it. The woman died in the 1920s.

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buteo51 t1_iwbha7i wrote

The technical term for this is spolia if you’re interested in reading about more examples.

Why cut your own stone when there’s a perfectly good Roman mausoleum over there? The Romans aren’t using it anymore.

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haluuf t1_iwbo9ev wrote

Cluj-Napoca is in Romania, but that's not written in romanian, and I can't find why in my own search. Why isn't it written in romanian?

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ValdisPunk OP t1_iwbsti9 wrote

Yes, that inscription is in Hungarian language. At the end of the 9th century, the ancestors of today’s Hungarians settled in Transylvania, occupying the region.

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Tidesticky t1_iwfrysq wrote

Never heard of this before. Very interesting. I guess this happens a lot now that I found out it's a "thing". And people being buried in walls? Man I've lived a sheltered life.

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Random_Guy_47 t1_iwq6t8j wrote

Please ignore this comment, I just need the automod reply to this for something.

​

History is written by the victor.

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AutoModerator t1_iwq6tbw wrote

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It seems like you are talking about the popular but ultimately flawed and false "winners write history" trope!

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A somewhat better, but absolutely not perfect, approach that works better than 'winners writing history' is to say 'writers write history'.

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To give a few examples, Genghis Khan must surely go down as one of the great victors in all history, but he is generally viewed quite unfavorably in practically all sources, because his conquests tended to harm the literary classes.
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