"Always Somebody in the Mausoleum" - Minnesota Chapel Mausoleum Highlights New Cemetery Trend

November 18, 2002

ST. PAUL, Minn. - When the Resurrection Cemetery Chapel Mausoleum in Mendota Heights was completed last year, a keyless entry system for visitors was set up. "We found that there was always somebody in the mausoleum, especially after cemetery hours," says John Cherek, director of The Catholic Cemeteries for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. "Family members and friends appreciated an enclosed space and a calm environment that allowed them to feel as if they were at home with their loved ones," says Cherek. "Many people remember their loved ones in the cemetery by keeping vigil in the mausoleum."

The chapel, or community mausoleum, is changing the way people are interred in a cemetery and how and where people grieve. Mausoleums from ages ago were built for the rich and powerful. Above-ground burial in the United States is acknowledged to have taken off in the 1950s and primarily first served the Italian-Catholic population. Every major cemetery in most large cities now has an interment chapel. In at least nine major Catholic cemeteries in Chicago, one of the largest Catholic Archdioceses in the United States, mausoleums and crypt purchases represent at least 15 percent of space selections. Inglewood Park Cemetery in California, where the cremation rate is approaching 50 percent, has over 90,000 niche or crypt mausoleum spaces on its 350 acres.

Why are community mausoleums taking off? There are many reasons. Community mausoleums make efficient use of space. They are easy to maintain. Temperature-controlled and protected from the elements, they are ideal for conducting private or public ceremonies anytime. They can be opened for longer access than cemetery grounds for visitors. They are also architectural feats beautifying cemeteries that are undergoing a 21st century version of the 19th century rural cemetery movement.

In the 19th century, cemeteries moved to rural areas outside overcrowded cities and featured artistic memorials, statuaries and grand mausoleums in landscaped settings. Suburban cemeteries now are developing more visually appealing above-ground memorials, especially outdoor garden and indoor community mausoleums that look like modern or classical works of art. "You are not just visiting a cemetery anymore," says Mike Baklarz, senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Cold Spring Granite Co., the firm that designed and built the Resurrection Cemetery Chapel Mausoleum. "You are in a spiritual sanctuary that is also a beautiful park and art museum featuring some of the best and most durable architecture you will ever see."

The Resurrection Cemetery Chapel Mausoleum, eight miles southwest of St. Paul, is a case in point. It is the largest mausoleum in a diocesan cemetery run by the Catholic Church in Minnesota. One look at the 9,600-square-foot structure tells you it was made to last. "We specifically asked the designer to create a sense of spiritual comfort and permanence," says Cherek.

The interior and exterior of the 1,080-crypt and 976-niche mausoleum is clad completely in four different shades of red granite (Lac Du Bonnet, Carnelian, Plum Rose and Sunset Beige). Carnelian columns and pediments with cross carvings front the main entrance and exits at each end of the cross-shaped chapel. The eight-foot high archangel murals on lighter Lac Du Bonnet with a darker Carnelian surround are carved on the four corners of the building. "Each granite is unique," says Jim Cota, a designer of Granit Bronz, the mausoleum division of Cold Spring Granite, who designed the structure. "In combination, their colors and finishes create a sense of strength, unity and warmth in and around the chapel mausoleum."

Inside, the gabled windows above the main chapel generate natural light and reflections on polished granites. A vaulted architectural wood roof system creates substantial upward space and "the effect of looking heavenward," according to Cherek. Murals of an oak and laurel wreath, respectively symbolizing strength and triumph, are carved behind the granite altar and casket bier that are flanked by rows of seats. Under the wreaths are quotations from the Bible essentially welcoming the entrance of the deceased into heaven. The laurel wreath was designed after the Constantinople Monogram of Christ from a 1,600-year-old sarcophagus of a child in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul, Turkey.

The chapel seats 200 people. Catholic Burial rites involve three ceremonies: a vigil at a church or funeral home; the funeral liturgy/service usually conducted at the parish church; and a committal in which cremated remains are placed in a niche or a body interred in a crypt. The mausoleum is suited to handle all variations. It is not uncommon these days to have other prayer and memorial ceremonies in the mausoleum, which is also becoming the architectural centerpiece and administrative headquarters of many cemeteries.

The Resurrection Cemetery Chapel Mausoleum is the largest cemetery property in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Cherek emphasizes that the chapel mausoleum was not developed because the cemetery was running out of space. Only 150 out of 350 acres have been developed for cemetery use. "We built the chapel mausoleum for aesthetic and community gathering purposes," says Cherek. "It is a beautiful structure for families to congregate."

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The Cold Spring Granite Co. is the world's largest manufacturer, designer and distributor of granite and bronze products. The Cold Spring Granite Memorial Group offers the broadest line of memorial products, including upright monuments, flat markers, cast bronze and granite bases, urns, columbaria, community and family mausoleums, benches, and specialty cemetery features. For more information, visit www.coldspringgranite.com.

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