A carved hand, its index finger pointing upwards, appears on certain funerary monuments. What does this gesture mean?
The answer
The hand with its index finger raised towards the sky indicates the direction taken by the soul of the deceased after death: it is a common Christian motif, found on both modest graves and more imposing monuments.
This question belongs to the “Symbols and Allegories” series of the Père-Lachaise quiz: ten questions, a story behind every right answer.