Opening a family grave in Tbilisi - permit, slab lifting and burial beside the ancestors

Relatives entitled to burial in a family grave

The right to be buried in a family grave belongs to family members and close relatives, and the cemetery administration checks this against documents. As a rule, two things need to be shown: who is already buried in the grave, and how the person who has just died is related to them.

• Direct relatives: a son or daughter, spouse, parent, brother, sister or grandchild. A birth or marriage certificate showing the link is enough.
• More distant relatives: a cousin, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law. Often a chain of several documents is needed, which the coordinator puts together with the family.
• Another family's grave: if a person is being buried in the grave of a friend's or godparent's family, the administration requires written consent from the grave's owners; we provide a template for that document.

Grave types and how we open each one

Earth grave

The simplest case: a grave with a mound or a low curb and no concrete covering. The gravediggers carefully take down the mound, set aside the flowers and decorations, and dig next to or above the earlier burial, as the administration directs. After the burial the mound is reshaped.

Concrete grave with a slab

A type common in Tbilisi's older and middle-aged cemeteries: a grave set in a concrete frame and sealed with one or several heavy slabs on top. Here two stonemasons work with lifting gear: they free the slab from its joints, raise it and lay it aside on a protective sheet. After the burial the slab goes back in place and the joints are sealed again.

Grave with a headstone and railing

When a granite headstone, a stone surround or a metal railing stands on the grave, we first assess whether it can be opened without moving the headstone. Most of the time it can. If the headstone or railing is in the way, we remove it with care, store it and put it back after the burial, and the cost of that work appears as a separate line after we have seen the site.

Family vault

Some families have an underground burial chamber on two or three levels, with niches. In that case only the entrance slab or the niche door is opened, and the coffin is lowered inside on straps. Two stonemasons do this together with the pallbearers.

Prices

The administration's fee for opening a family grave is usually lower than the charge for a new plot. It is paid against a receipt and is not added to our price.

The permit, step by step

1. Details from the family: the name of the cemetery, the approximate location or section of the grave, who is buried in it and in what year.
2. Gathering documents: the official death record, obtained at the Public Service Hall (which many Tbilisians simply call the House of Justice), the grave card or old permit, and proof of kinship. If anything is missing, we start looking for it ourselves.
3. Submission to the administration: the coordinator hands in the papers and obtains the permit, as a rule within twenty-four hours.
4. Inspection: the crew leader visits the grave, assesses its type, the headstone, the railing and access, and sends the family photos.
5. Opening: the stonemasons and gravediggers open the grave and get it ready on the eve of the funeral, or at first light that morning.
6. Burial and closing: after the ceremony the grave is closed, the slab sealed, and the headstone and railing returned to their places.

A lost grave card

Many families lost the old paperwork decades ago, or the card was kept by a relative who has since passed away. This happens a lot, and it will not delay the burial. The cemetery archive files its records by surname, the year of the previous interment and the cemetery section, and our coordinator does the search. The family only has to tell us what they remember: who is buried there, roughly when, and where the grave is. If the record cannot be found in the archive, the administration will sometimes take into account the inscription on the grave together with documents proving kinship.

Number of burials one grave can hold

This is one of the questions we hear most, and there is no single answer. A family grave's capacity depends on its size, its type and the cemetery's rules. In an earth grave a new burial is usually placed next to the earlier one if the plot allows. A concrete grave sometimes has several niches, each opened separately. If the grave is full, the administration may offer the family the adjoining plot if it is free. That is why the crew leader inspects the grave before opening it and tells the family in advance what is possible.

How much time has passed since the previous burial also matters. If it has been only a short while, cemetery rules and sanitary regulations may restrict work in the same spot, and then the coordinator looks for a solution together with the family, such as a neighbouring plot inside the same railing. If you are still considering a new place instead, our cemetery plot service explains the options.

Adding a new name to an existing headstone

After a burial in a family grave, most families want to add the name, dates and sometimes a portrait to the same headstone, next to the relatives already laid to rest there. On most types of stone this is possible: the craftsmen assess the free space on site, agree the font and layout so that the new inscription matches the old one, and do the work without taking the headstone down. Families usually have this done ahead of the first anniversary, but the timing is theirs to choose. If there is no room left on the headstone, we suggest a small additional slab alongside, in the same stone and style. Options for lettering and portraits are described under photo ceramics and engraving.

A family grave in a village

If the family grave is in a village cemetery, a formal permit is often not required, but it still needs to be agreed with the community or the priest. In that case the coordinator in Tbilisi contacts the people responsible in the village, and the crew arrives the day before and opens the grave exactly as it would in the city: with care for the headstone and railing, and tidying up afterwards. The crew's travel is added by mileage.

Care around neighbouring graves

In old cemeteries the graves stand close together, sometimes centimetres apart, among old trees and narrow paths. So the main risk when opening a grave is damaging someone else's. Our stonemasons never tip soil onto the next plot, they lay slabs on a protective sheet, and they position the crane so that its support does not touch another family's headstone. We photograph the neighbouring graves before work begins and after it ends.

Frequently asked questions