The Pyramid of Samuel Brown

Monuments inspired by the art and architecture of Ancient Egypt are fairly common in cemeteries.  The Rural Cemetery's twin receiving vaults and the hillside crypt of the Brinckerhoff-Pumpelly family are both Egyptian in style.  Most were designed as part of the fashion called "Egyptomania" when the art of the ancient Nile kingdom influenced everything from dresses and wallpaper to public buildings and monuments. 

This simple granite pyramid on the crest of the South Ridge, though, is especially appropriate.  It marks the grave of Samuel Brown, the Albany businessman who traveled to Egypt to purchase the pair of mummies which have been an extremely popular attraction at the Albany Institute of History & Art (and the subject of a special exhibit currently open at the museum).

Handwritten letter from Brown regarding the mummies.

More on the Albany mummies.