kaple Povýšení svatého Kříže (Kraslice) Chapel

The Chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is a cemetery chapel with a farewell hall in Kraslice on the Sokolovsko. It stands south of the city center, on the cemetery on the slope of Sněženský vrch above the confluence of Kamenný potok and Svatavy. Since 2012, the chapel together with the hall has been protected as a cultural monument.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the population of Kraslice was growing and the old cemetery was no longer sufficient. In 1885, a new municipal cemetery was therefore established and in the same year a chapel was built next to it. Who designed its plans is not known. In 1936, a ceremonial hall was added to the western wing in a similar spirit. It was designed by architect Anton Köstler.

The fate of one tombstone is also connected to the chapel. In 1892, the oldest Kraslice church, the Church of the Body of Christ, a predecessor to today's municipal church, was demolished. From it, a tombstone of two sons of the senior mining official Kryštof Jindřich Winkler von Heimfeld was transferred to the cemetery wall next to the chapel. It remained in this place until 2014.

The chapel is a modest brick neo-Gothic building with a rectangular ground plan and a polygonal apse. Above the entrance facade rises a tall, slender polygonal tower with a spire, set on a prismatic base. The main entrance ends with a pointed arch with a stained-glass window depicting a seated Jesus Christ and above it is a small rose window. The gabled roof is covered with sheet metal. Large Gothic-style windows with stained glass and pointed arches let light into the interior.

From both sides, single-story wings with hipped roofs, prominent dormers and likewise pointed windows adjoin the chapel. The farewell hall has an octagonal ground plan and is oriented opposite to the chapel. Above its entrance stands on a small console a statue of the Virgin Mary about half a meter tall.

The interior of the chapel is covered with a cross vault with decorative paintings. In the presbytery there are two stained-glass windows with Saint Joseph and the Madonna. The wooden neo-Gothic altar is higher in the central part and decorated on the sides with plant motifs. In its central niche is a figurine of Jesus Christ on the cross.

In the farewell hall, a brass chandelier hangs in the middle and on the walls there are four electric light fixtures in the form of a three-armed candelabrum. In the hall's presbytery stands a black wooden catafalque. The original ceramic floor, wooden wall paneling and entrance and interior doors have been preserved here.