Source Description
Three-tiered classicist funerary monument made of sandstone and white marble,
ca. 400x170x100 cm (without foundation). A base made of Oberkirchen sandstone
supports the marble middle section featuring a frontal mid-relief framed by four
Corinthian columns bearing a gabled roof with six acroteria. The relief block
shows a half-dressed female figure raising herself above a snake stretched out
at her feet while holding a sword in her right hand – possibly an allegory on
truth’s triumph over falsehood, although it has also often been interpreted as a
depiction of “Justitia” or “Libertas.” The front of the base and the back of the
middle section bear the name of the deceased, “Dr. Gabriel Riesser,”
engraved in relief while the dates of his birth and death are engraved on the
sides of the middle section – on the beholder’s left according to the Christian
calendar and on the right according to the Jewish calendar.
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Recommended Citation
Funerary Monument to Dr. Gabriel Riesser (1806–1863) at Ohlsdorf Cemetery, Hamburg (1865) (translated by Insa Kummer), edited in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History,
<https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-25.en.v1> [November 21, 2024].