History of the site

The parish cemetery in Chrzanów was set up at the turn of the 18th century or in 1809. It was extended a number of times. In 1893, after another extension, the so-called old cemetery section was isolated. The cemetery is divided into plots. Along the axis of the main alley, there is the Loewenfelds tomb chapel (they were the owners of the town) funded by Henryk Loewenfeld after the death of his mother Rose in 1898. He commissioned the design to the well-known Krakow architect Teodor Talowski. Talowski, as wished as by the client, borrowed the concept from a London graveyard chapel. The foundation was made from local dolomite, the shell from Mikołajewski stone brought from the area near Lviv. The project was completed in the years 1898-1900 by the Kraków construction company, P. Kozłowski i M. Szczyrbuła. The dome was covered with fish-scape copper sheet made by Józef Górecki. The sepulchral chapel of the Loewenfeld family (now the cemetery chapel) is the resting place of the last town owners (Róża Loewenfeld née Asher, Hugo Emanuel Loewenfeld, Henryk Loewenfeld, Bruno Loewenfeld) and the tutor of the young Loewenfelds, Hugo Gutsche.

Site description

The parish cemetery in Chrzanów is located in the north part of the city between the crossroads leading to Balin and Luszowice. The chapel stands by the main axis of the oldest part of the grounds. The Loewenfelds’ sepulchral chapel was erected on a Greek cross plan and features the classicist historicism style. It has an underground crypt with a window at the ground level and a domed surface chapel with a columned portico on the central axis of the façade and with avant-corps in the other facades. In front of the portico, there are single-flight stairs flanked by rectangular blocks. The portico has a four-column design with a tympanum The grooved, Doric columns support the entablature with an architrave decorated with alternating rosettes and nodules, and a triglyph frieze with serrations. The abutment is triangular with a smooth inner field, adorned in the corners with palm-like acroterions. The remaining façades are decorated with avant-corpses divided by pilasters supporting the entablature and tympanum. Between the pilasters of both side façades, there is a rectangular window enclosed in ear-shaped frame with a dripstone having the form of a simple entablature. The pointed dome is octagonal, ribbed, with a low lantern topped with an iron cross. The cross is a forged, openwork, three-leaf design rising from acanthus leaves at the base. The dome is covered with a fish-scale copper sheet. The dome cap has a skylight of yellow stained glass in the form of fish scales. The dome rests on pedants separated from the chapel walls by a cornice. The windows are glazed with crown glass; the floor is paved with terracotta arranged in stylised plant motifs.

The site is open to visitors.

Author of the note Tomasz Woźniak, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 07/10/2014

Bibliography

• Chrzanowski T., Kornecki M., Sztuka Ziemi Krakowskiej, Kraków 1982
• Decyzja nr(st. rej. Nr A- 1634/96)  A-696/M z dn. 12-11-1996 r., w sprawie wpisania dobra kultury do rejestru zabytków nieruchomych województwa katowickiego, archiwum MWKZ Kraków
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, vol. I, Województwo krakowskie, no. 4, Powiat chrzanowski, Warszawa 1952
• Jura J., Najstarsza część cmentarza parafialnego w Chrzanowie, [in:] Muzeum w Chrzanowie (ed.), Dziedzictwo kulturowe i przyrodnicze ziemi chrzanowskiej, Chrzanów 2011
• Krasnowolski B., Leksykon zabytków architektury Małopolski, Warszawa 2013
• Krasnowolski B., Zabytki i wartości kulturowe, [in:] Muzeum w Chrzanowie (ed.), Chrzanów, Studia z dziejów miasta, vol. 2, Chrzanów współczesny, part 1, Chrzanów 1999