Obj. ID: 17520
Jewish Architecture 3D computer model of the Cemetery chapel in Chemnitz, stage of 1882, Germany, 1882
To the main object: Drawings of the Cemetery chapel in Chemnitz, Germany
According to surviving plans in the Municipal Archives of Chemnitz, the building was a broad house with a symmetric floor plan, consisting of a square main hall (inner measurements: 6.70 x 6.70m) with flanking side wings (inner measurements: 3.10 x 6.30m). The entrance was from the east, and the west wall had a polygonal apse (1.70 x 2.30m). The north wing consisted of a room for cleansing and dressing the body (4.10 x 3.10m) and a smaller room for the guard (2.05 x 3.10m). The south wing had a waiting room for the rabbi and the bereaved family (3.70 x 3.10) and a smaller one for keeping burial tools and utensils (2.30 x 3.10m). The main hall was covered by a hipped roof and the wings – by semi-hipped roofs.
The east facade had a central door with upper twin arched windows on either side, and each wing was pierced by a single large arched window. Two chimneys of the heating stoves were located in the east and west walls of the main hall.
The west wall had a polygonal apse which was flanked by upper twin arched windows. The north wing had a small arched window for the cleansing room. The utensil room on the south wing had a door opening to the west.
The south wall of the building had two large arched windows, each of the two rooms in the southern wing. The north wall of the building had a door leading from the cleansing room to the graveyard.
The plan was probably executed with few changes. Most likely, a door was located between the cleansing room and the main hall, allowing direct passage. This conjecture is further supported by drawings for the expansion of 1924, in which this door already appears. In the guard room, it is possible that an additional window was present on the north wall, as this is indicated on the 1924 drawing.