Going to the Chapel

Mausoleum interiors are usually seen as utilitarian affairs, but that is not always the case. Besides stained glass windows, usually best seen from inside the mausoleums, some mausoleums sport rather sumptuous decorations and furnishings. These accessorized mausoleums are known as chapel mausoleums since the interior usually contains an altar. Other items commonly found in chapel mausoleums are busts, urns and vases, and chairs for seating.

The caskets of the deceased are usually housed in vaults recessed in the walls or under the floor, but, sometimes, the caskets take center-stage, and are placed in sarcophagi in the middle of the mausoleum. Chapel mausoleums are  visitor friendly, and, as such, often contain fresh flowers and other decorative arrangements.

One of the most effusive mausoleum interiors I have personally visited and photographed is the Mackay Mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. John Mackay was one of the men responsible for the development of the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada and, more specifically, one of four men who discovered the Big Bonanza (indeed, the television program Bonanza was loosely based on The Big Bonanza).

The Mackay Mausoleum was built in 1898 in the Italian Renaissance Revival style.  The interior has an altar, a beautiful domed mosaic ceiling, and eight stained glass windows. Another unique aspect of the mausoleum was that it was fitted with a heating and electrical system. Since the mausoleum was heated and fitted for electricity, it could serve year-round as a small chapel. The twenty-two crypts are set behind bronze-framed heavy marble panels. The marble used in the interior panels was imported from Italy, France, and Belgium.  The mausoleum is still very much in use today. When I photographed it, the family had just erected a creche on the altar.

Also spending eternity in the Mackay Mausoleum is Mackay’s second son, Clarence, who was the father-in-law of composer Irving Berlin.
Photograph and text © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
Keister