The Chapel of Karl Scheibler (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

: ''Kaplica Karola Scheiblera''), is a major architectural work in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, built in 1888 and designed by architects Edward Lilpop and

Józef Pius Dziekoński Józef Pius Dziekoński (born 5 May 1844, Płock – died 4 February 1924, Warsaw) was a Polish people, Polish architect and heritage conservator, a representative of the 19th-century historicism (architecture), historicism. He became the first de ...

. It is located in the Evangelical-Augsburg part of the Old Cemetery at Ogrodowa Street 43. Łódź is known for its

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

which form a record of the city's heritage, particularly its unique nineteenth century development. The

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

and

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

Karl Wilhelm Scheibler Karl Wilhelm Scheibler (, 1 September 1820 – 13 April 1881) was a German-born Polish industrialist, businessman and textile manufacturer. Biography Scheibler was born in Montjoie (today Monschau) in the Prussian Province of Jülich-Cleves- ...

are noted examples of architecture from this period.

Karl Scheibler

(1820–1881) was an industrial magnate who raised the profile of Łódź within Europe's

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

industry. He created a large industrial empire at Priest's Mill ( Księży Młyn). While contributing heavily to the textile industry, Scheibler was also a noted

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. After his death, his

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...

Anna Scheibler, son Karol Wilhelm, daughter Matylda and

son-in-law In law and in cultural anthropology, affinity is the kinship relationship created or that exists between two people as a result of someone's marriage. It is the relationship each party in the marriage has to the family of the other party in th ...

Edward Herbst made large donations towards that would be useful to the city: schools, hospitals (such as the one on Milionowa Street, and the Children's Hospital named after

Janusz Korczak Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish pediatrician, educator, children's author and pedagogue known as ''Pan Doktor'' ("Mr. Doctor") or ''Stary Doktor'' ("Old Doctor"). He ...

), and

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

es (amongst them the Jesuit's Church, and the Archicathedral of Łódź).

Architecture

The architecture of the building was based on French and German

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

. The chapel has a slender contour, finished with openwork

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

s and it exhibits visible influences of St. Stephen's Cathedral in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

Sainte-Chapelle The Sainte-Chapelle (; ) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France. Construction b ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The chapel's shape and quality are recognised as in keeping with the masterpieces of

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

architecture. The quality of the Łódź mausoleum is said to be such that there are only a handful of buildings in Europe of equal artistic quality.

History

After his death, Anna erected the

-like chapel in his memory. It was built between 1885 and 1888 by Varsovian architects Edward Lilpop and

. It was consecrated on 1 September 1888 by Lutheran pastor Wilhelm Angerstein in the presence of Karol Scheibler, his family and hundreds of inhabitants of Łódź. Newspapers in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

wrote, "the chapel is a monument executed with the greatest costs concerning our country", and "this is an uncommon work of architecture, designed with great taste and executed with unusual care." Karol Scheibler's remains were buried in the crypt and were joined by other members of the family, including his widow, Anna Scheibler.

After 1989

After 1945, the chapel, along with the whole area of the Old Evangelical – Augsburg Cemetery, was vandalised and damaged in a series of robberies – several coffins in the crypt were destroyed. The condition of the chapel worsened considerably before the Conservatory Authority became interested in the monument in the 1970s. They executed a detailed inventory, walled up windows, and surrounded the chapel with a fence. Despite these precautions, the condition of the chapel has continued to deteriorate. In 2009, the renovation of the chapel's tower was completed.

References

External links