Since its construction it has been in the hands of the Orthodox religious community, under the original invocation. Some of the noteworthy features include an interesting shape of the building which follows the models of great Ruthenian Orthodox churches, as well as the wooden iconostasis and other fixtures and fittings, such as banners, tall candlesticks, several icons inside the chapel and a decorative multi-arm brass chandelier.

History

The Orthodox church is dated to between 1913 and 1914. The decision on its entry in the register of monuments classifies it as a burial Orthodox church. The first design was created in 1902 and included a chapel, a watchman’s house and a fence for the Orthodox part of the cemetery in Doły. In 1904, it was modified and the impressive chapel in Ruthenian-Byzantine style was presumably built according to that modified design. The record sheet drawn up by K. Stefański mentions the studio of F. Chełmiński - an architect from Łódź, as the place where the first design was probably created.

Description

The brick chapel occupies a plot at the main alley of the Orthodox part of the cemetery. It follows a square floor plan and has small avant-corpses in its side elevations. The resulting outline has the shape of the Greek cross with short arms. The building is oriented. The entrance is reached via a pair of identical, two-flight stairs. The stairs lead to a high, double-wing entrance door to the chapel, topped with a semicircular, glazed fanlight. The door is secured from inside with a simple metal grate. The entrance to the chapel is flanked by massive smooth columns, which begin and end with identical cube-shaped elements. Their sides are accentuated by smoothly plastered semicircles. The capitals are crowned with simple slats secured with galvanized sheet metal. Columns with the same bases and capitals flank the window openings in the northern and southern walls. All architectural details around the entrance door and windows were smoothly plastered and painted white to provide contrast against the chapel walls, covered with dark red clinker bricks. The columns in front of the entrance support a portico gabled with a flat top. On that top, there is a quadrangular turret. Its side walls are pierced by semicircular openings topped with surrounds, which are finished with a dentil frieze from inside. The whole is crowned with a gilded roof in the form of a rectangular dome with an Orthodox cross. The turret houses a funeral bell.

Its square body supports an octagonal tholobate of an onion-like, flattened dome topped with a metal Orthodox cross. A narrow, profiled cornice runs around the turret under the dome. The body of the turret has bevelled corners protected with gilded sheet metal and is topped with a wide, profiled cornice. The dome is covered with small golden metal scales. The tholobate of the dome is pierced by numerous small cross-shaped windows lighting the interior of the chapel. Semicircular window openings in the northern and southern side walls are decorated in the upper part with rosettes glazed with dark green and purple glass. The walls inside the chapel are whitewashed. The dome is painted blue inside. The colour signifies the sky against which there are numerous golden stars. Opposite the entrance door, there is a simple wooden iconostasis with images of saints. In front of it, there is a catafalque covered with a decorative cover, surrounded by tall candlesticks with candles and a stand with a funeral banner. Several icons depicting saints hang on the side walls. A decorative multi-arm brass chandelier is hung in the key of the dome.

The chapel can be visited upon prior arrangement at the parish office at No. 46/1 Narutowicza Street. 

Prepared by Patrycja Podgarbi, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź, 21 February 2019

Bibliography

• K. Badziak, K. Chylak, M. Łapa, Łódź wielowyznaniowa. Dzieje wspólnot religijnych do 1914 roku, Łódź 2014
• Bandurka M., Rosin R., Łódź 1423-1823-1973. Zarys dziejów i wybór dokumentów, Łódź 1974
• E. Posłuszny, Record sheet of objects of architectural and urban heritage, Burial Orthodox Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Łódź, January and April 1983
• K. Stefański, Record sheet of monuments of architecture and construction, Orthodox Cemetery Chapel of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Łódź, October 1989.
• Stefański K., Jak zbudowano przemysłową Łódź. Architektura i urbanistyka miasta w l. 1821-1914, Łódź 2001
• Stefański K., Atlas architektury dawnej Łodzi do 1939 r., Łódź 2008
• Strzałkowski J., Architekci i budowniczowie w Łodzi do r. 1944, Łódź 1997
• V. Wiernicka, Prawosławni w Łodzi, Łódź 2015