The Language of the Dead: Victorian Funerary Symbolism June 27, 2010

Victorian Philadelphians loved visual symbolism, and even their simplest grave monuments are likely to be ornamented by ivy (for eternal life), lilies (for resurrection) or hourglasses (for the brevity of life). Laurel Hill Cemetery is truly an outdoor sculptural garden, where the dead have always left symbolic messages to be read by the living.