There are more than 20 000 memorial inscriptions in the collection of cemetery epitaphs.The collection’s geographical coverage includes all ethnographic regions of Latvia (altogether, 225 cemeteries), one cemetery in Lithuania and one Latvian cemetery in the USA. The oldest tombstone inscriptions date back to the 19^th century, while the most recent are from the beginning of the 21^st century. Along with a preponderance of Latvian language in the memorial texts, there are also some examples of Russian, Polish, German, Estonian, Livonian and other languages.

The collection was created mainly from 1993 to 2003 by Baltic philology students of the University of Latvia. Documenting tombstone inscriptions was their folklore practicum in the summer between their first and second year at University. The epitaph collection is supplemented by photographs, sketches of memorial objects, cemetery plans, cultural history data, place lore, etc.

Latvian memorial signs in cemeteries are mostly made of polished granite in a rectangular or irregular shape. Marble, sandstone, wood, concrete, iron, cast iron, bronze or zinc details for memorial signs are used on some occasions. Although memorial tablets dominate, there are other architectural and sculptural forms, too, such as gravestones, memorial monuments, obelisks, crosses, and imitations of old wooden Latvian memorial signs.

On the surface of the memorial sign, an inscription is made to honour the deceased person. The texts provide both personal information (name, surname, birth and death data, profession, family links, etc.) and poetic commentaries which, on many occasions, are Biblical, Latvian poetry or folksong quotations.Since there is a rule of anonymity for the genre of cemetery epitaphs, it is not always possible to determine the source of quotations accurately. The anonymous texts migrate from epitaph to epitaph and make textual variants. However, verses by many famous Latvian poets, such as Rūdolfs Blaumanis, Rainis, Augusts Saulietis, Fricis Bārda, Leonīds Breikšs, Ārija Elksne, Lija Brīdaka et al., have been creatively used in memorial culture. The most popular Biblical passage in the epitaph corpora is ‘Love never ends’ (1 Corinthian 13:8).

Written by: Rita Treija