The Hall

This symbol on the tombstones is always overlooked, since it is believed not to be relevant in confront to other more characteristic ones, but I do think this symbol is worth being researched.

As we have already discussed in the previous posts, the tombstones are connected to the symbology of the house, this is evident if we look to the architectural constructions, like columns and arches, carved on the stones.

In the Germanic tradition this connection can be seen in the mythical place of the Valhöll, which literally means "hall of the slain". So, it is no coincidence that this symbology is present also on the Bosnian tombstones; the symbol of the house was in our European tradition always connected to the chthonic aspect of our mythology, where there is death there is also rebirth, and the eternal house as the place in between them represents nonetheless then the womb of the mother.

I want to recall your attention to a little detail, often on the stones there is a sense of repetition from one arch to the other, the same image is showed multiple times, or there is a sense of movement like a film, with scenes that move through the screen. This could not only be an artistical choice but also a way to describe some kind of rebirth. The scene is always the same because we thought our previous lives to be practicing the same traditions over and over again; these repetitions can help us regain our lost memories like a process to cure some kind of amnesia.

In the same way as a sequence of scenes represents movement from one point to the next, so do these images on the tombstones in a symbolical way, from a “dimension” to the next, as a way to represent the process of rebirth.