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~ ROCHESTER'S HISTORY ~
AN ILLUSTRATED TIMELINE
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VICTORIAN CEMETERY SYMBOLISM
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Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, NY
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Drapery over anything - sorrow, mourning
Book - faith, learning to read and write, a scholar. A prayer, or knowledge or even memory (where it has a dog-eared page). It may represent the Book of Life and is often shown as a bible. A popular form is the book as a double page spread.
Doors and gates - passage into the afterlife. Heavenly entrance
Anchor - Early Christians used the anchor as a disguised cross, and as a marker to guide the way to secret meeting places. A Christian symbol of hope, it is found as funerary symbolism in the art of the catacombs. Often set amongst rocks. It can also be an occupational symbol in sea-faring areas or the attribute of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of seamen, symbolized hope and steadfastness. An anchor with a broken chain stands for the cessation of life.
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