Little Secrets #10761

The Story

A chain and lock keep these mausoleum doors closed, really closed, and sealed off. The mausoleum doors are old, the aged and weathered green copper tells the tale. Photographed in full sun, the green is splotchy, dull, and flat looking but the copper green is still intense in places. Pale yellow streaks weep downward from the rusting iron of the chain.

In cemeteries, not much goes on at all, just as it should be. The human world goes on outside the boundaries leaving everything still inside but for nature. But someone means business here with that chain and lock on a most likely already locked door. It’s very likely this is a scene that doesn’t change much but rarely, but maybe it did at one time in a negative way. Time for a chain and lock.

So, there’s a bit of obvious mystery created here…and mystery brings questions. What secrets might lie behind this mausoleum door, and are they small or large secrets? Might these mausoleum doors be keeping something in or something out? And will a chain and lock stop the crossing between those two worlds inner and outer?

In any case, there were no clues, just this picture was found.

Another set of bronze mausoleum doors that is also an interesting work of art in an older bas-relief style is called Faithfulness, seen below. Click on the picture to see its full page.

I’ve gone into cemeteries often over the years looking for the beautiful and unusual. You can see the full collection of fine art and landscapes created in burial grounds in the Cemeteries Gallery.

Location: a cemetery in West Virginia. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks