Rare ceramic tombstones are undergoing restoration as part of a general ongoing project to restore. maintain, and document the historic Jewish cemetery in Tata.
Three ceramic grave markers belonging to Áron Mózes Fischer (1796-1861) and members of his family were dismantled and removed on December 18, 2025. They will be returned to their original places after restoration, expected sometime in the spring.
The work is being carried out by the Goldberger Foundation in Tata, which is responsible for the preservation and care of the town’s Jewish cultural heritage, in cooperation with the Hungarian Jewish umbrella MAZSIHISZ and the Tata municipality.
“Ceramic tombstones are not at all typical for Jewish cemeteries,” the municipality of Tata said on its web site. “In this case, the use of this material is due to the family’s activities closely related to the ceramic industry.”
Áron Mózes Fischer ran a stoneware and ceramic stove factory in Tata from 1824 to 1913, and his sons were also involved in the ceramics business. He was a relative of Mór Fischer, one of the founders and longtime director of the famous Herend Porcelain works, who in 1869 was raised to the ranks of the Hungarian nobility by Emperor Franz Josef I; he took the noble name Farkasházi.
The ceramic grave markers, vertical structures placed on stone bases, are unique in Hungary. They resemble the ceramic heating stoves made by Aron Fischer’s factory.
The municipality said that an analysis prepared by the restorer Kornélia Hajtó had revealed the degradation of the ceramic structure since the markers were installed, including “varying degrees of frost damage and numerous mechanical damages: breakage, cracks, and missing parts.”
“The preservation and restoration of the unique ceramic tombstones is a tribute to the family and its work, and the care of the family’s memory and the tidying up of their graves is a moral duty for posterity,” it added.
It said that the cost of the restoration of the ceramic markers was estimated at 3.5 million forints (c. €9,000), with the Herend Porcelain Manufactory providing 500,000 forints within the framework of a four-party agreement (Tata City Government, MAZSIHISZ, the Herend Manufactory. and the Goldberger Foundation). It said that the Herend Porcelain Manufactory is providing financial support for the renovation of the limestone pedestals of the tombstones and the cleaning of the nearby tombstones of Mór Farkasházi Fischer and his family members.
The restoration of the ceramic gravestones is the latest step in the ongoing restoration and documentation of the cemetery, spearheaded by the Goldberger Foundation.
The Tata Jewish cemetery is one of the oldest in Hungary, with the oldest Jewish gravestone — dating from 1740 — in its original place.
At the Foundation’s initiative, a full documentation of the cemetery’s gravestones and epitaphs was carried out in 2022- 2023, and can be fully accessed as an online PDF book. Restoration work includes the restoration of the preburial house.