The former chapel in the oak park was part of the city’s psychiatric institution opened in 1862. At patients’ funerals, the chapel not only played a role as a place of farewell, but also offered space for the preparation and laying out of the corpses.
Between 1902 and 1909, extensive structural extensions were made to the institution. In the oak park, several dormitories, three residential buildings, a chapel of blessing, a water tower, and a bowling alley were built. All the buildings were constructed in the style of historicism, or in the so-called “Heimatstil”, with mixed use of exposed masonry made of baked bricks, plastered surfaces, half-timbered and boarded walls.
The interior of the chapel
The chapel is divided into two parts. The building consists of the main room, which is empty (there are no elements left that remind of its former function) and has a granite floor, several windows with simple light yellow glass and a wooden ceiling (blue-green). Works or structures can be hung both on the walls and on the ceiling (using a scaffolding). The room has a round door at the front, which was originally used as an entrance, but since 2012 has been closed transparently by a window. The main room can be reached through the side entrance.
The side entrance initially provides access to the second part of the chapel. This part consists of a corridor with 5 smaller rooms on the left side, so-called cells. These rooms once served as mortuary, the walls are partly tiled.
Detailed information about the oak park and the chapel can be found HERE