Tour of the City

The oldest building in the cemetery, the entrance lodge on the Röntgenstrasse, was erected between 1841 and 1842. The architect was the Austrian Anton Mutschlechner who, from 1839 to 1842, was the city's master builder. The entire 125 metre breadth of the cemetery was enclosed with arches, which could be added to later should the need arise. The architect employed a neo-Byzantine style. This style had for several years been considered the appropriate style for sacral buildings.

In 1894 the central building as well as the caretaker's apartment and the prayer hall were extensively renovated, and the entrance hall was painted. After the completion of the crematorium (constructed in the years 1899-1900), the prayer hall next to the entrance was given over to the Society for Cremation (Verein für Feuerbestattung) in order that an urn-chamber might be constructed. This was completed in 1904 according to the plans of the architect G. A. Karch. The well-preserved chamber is decorated in a late Renaissance style. A flat coffered ceiling covers the central section and barrel vaulting the front and back of the chamber. The niches created by the arches are usually available for the display of urns, the rectangular niches are sealed with marble plaques. The cemetery authorities later took up residence in the caretaker's apartment and remained there until 1966. In 1967 it was turned into the "new urn-chamber" by adding built-in coffers made of grey concrete. In July 1992 the inscription over the main entrance was restored to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the opening of the cemetery.

A rare and therefore valuable exception is the Jewish cemetery of Mannheim. The large Jewish community laid it out, on what was then the edge of the city, side by side and at the same time as the Christian cemetery. Its dimensions were considerably larger than the old Jewish cemetery, in the centre of the city located at F 7, which could not be extended further. Mannheim's Israelite cemetery is not a great architectonic achievement. It is a simple clinker building immediately next to the entrance and serves as a ritual chamber with wash rooms and a morgue.

The cemetery does, however, have something remarkable to offer the visitor: right next to the entrance under a burial mound are the mortal remains of Mannheim's Jewish citizens, which were transferred from the old cemetery in 1938 because this was being built over. Most of the gravestones from the old cemetery, which was used for burials from 1660 to 1842, were removed and lost. Only a few of the gravestones, which stood out either because of their historical importance or their beauty, were able to be placed in a circle around the burial mound. Their extravagant ornamentation and pleasing forms in the style of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods are indicators of the masterly craftsmanship of the stonemasons of that time.

Address: Friedhofsbetrieb der Stadt Mannheim 
Röntgenstraße 15 (Hauptfriedhof) 
68167 Mannheim 
Tel.: 0621 3377-111 
Fax: 0621 3377-222
schwoebel@friedhof-mannheim.de 
 www.friedhof-mannheim.de