Gravestones get tech update with QR codes in Turkey 

Quick Response codes, commonly known as QR codes, are all the rage in today’s world, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic. Nowadays, they are an essential part of daily life as they allow people to learn which locations are free of infection and help businesses serve only virus-free customers. An entrepreneur in the southern province of Antalya allows customers to even take the codes to the grave with them, literally.

Mehmet Çetin originally introduced QR codes to gravestones, a flourishing practice in other parts of the world, five years ago. Yet, his approach failed to attract the interest of customers of his gravestone production business. When the codes became popular again last year, he decided to bring them back. With a small QR code printed on the gravestone of the deceased, visitors can access memories of their loved ones. Scanning the code with their cellphone, they can see whatever the deceased or his/her family allow, from a resume to videos, photos, poems and prayers.

Çetin told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Tuesday that he can barely meet the growing demand nowadays. “We install whatever people want. Some ask for personal information, others upload videos and photos, or prayers they want to be recited by visitors. You only need a smartphone app for access to codes,” he said. The practice also saves on the cost of detailed inscriptions engraved on the gravestone.

QR codes provide quick access to pages of information and a trove of images and videos and have been becoming increasingly common in Turkey in recent years. They are already in use elsewhere for a different kind of gravestone, while municipalities are also trying to use them as an alternative to bus passes.