Mauzoleum rodiny Kleinů Tomb

Mauzoleum rodiny Kleinů in the municipality of Sobotín in the district of Šumperk is a monumental tomb built in the historical style between 1881 and 1887. This monument served as a family burial site for the important Klein business family in North Moravia and is today a valuable document of secular architecture in the second half of the 19th century on the list of cultural monuments.

The original burial ground of the family based in Sobotín used to be a cemetery near the local church of St. Vavrnice. The family took over the patronage in 1844 when buying the Visberg estate. In the cemetery Albert Klein was buried, who died in 1877 as the first owner of the castle and one of the most successful members of the family. Although his heir Friedrich Klein did not have such a strong economic position, he showed his social status associated with a noble title. That's why he went to build a family tomb. Project documentation of the mausoleum and the park landscape was developed by the Vienna architect Wenzel S. Baumheyer in 1880. Due to the high financial costs, the construction extended to 1881 to 1887 and was not implemented in all the original details. There was no planned round pool with flower beds behind the entrance gate. The historical context of the late 19th century in Europe characterized the boom of industrial business and the rise of rich bourgeois families. At that time historism dominated architecture, which effectively highlighted the social position of owners.

The construction is located in an elevated area approximately half a kilometer south of the Saturday castle and consists of two parts. The crypt on the square plan is mostly embedded in the ground. A terrace with balustrade railing and four metal statues of angels that were destroyed after World War II ended above the surface. Above the crypt stands a brick chapel lined with granite and sandstone, carrying elements of Palladian architecture. The chapel has a square plan with two side capes, a chorus and a port under the main entrance; The dome on the tambura is closing it from the top. The pile is divided by pilasters, tambur breaks flat pilasters and the roof of the dome is metal, finished with lantern with cross. The entrance to the chapel led through the main staircase from the terrace, while the crypt entered from the back of the mausoleum. The interior of the chapel had relatively modest equipment and its artistic elements were mostly destroyed. However, the ceiling fresco with four scenes from the cycle The Torture of the Lord by Austrian painter Franz Jobst was well preserved. The crypt formed a central space, supplemented by a marble statue of an angel of life size and nothing intended for coffins.

The members of the Klein family remained owners of the building until 1945. In the autumn of 1887, the county police department in Šumperk allowed the remains of Albert Klein and his children to be placed in the mausoleum, transported from the cemetery at St. Lawrence's church. From there, the coffins of other members of the family buried in Prague or Krnov were gradually transported. The capacity of the tomb was set at 40 coffins, but due to excessive moisture, it stopped burying in 1919. Between 1927 and 1928, Klein had a costly reconstruction of the tomb, but the burial of the crypt was not restored.

The year 1945 became the key milestone in the fate of the monument, when on the basis of the Beneš Decrees the property of the Klein family was confiscated. The tomb remained freely accessible and became the target of thieves and vandals who completely destroyed the interior. In the 1950s, the entrance to the crypt was walled up at the order of the county hygienist. Yet people continued to infiltrate the building, opening coffins and trying to sell jewelry from stolen graves. In 1958, the tomb was listed on the list of cultural monuments. In the early 1960s, the National Museum in Šumperk showed an interest, which ensured the ultimate security of the tomb and the disposal of the remains of Klein into new coffins. In 1989 the municipality Sobotín took control of the construction. In 1999, with financial participation of the descendants of Klein living abroad, the remnants were transferred back to the cemetery at St. Lawrence's church, where the names of buried family members today resemble a commemorative plaque.

The National Monument Institute today classifies this monument as endangered because of its long-term unsatisfactory state. In the direction of the village Sobotín, long-term reconstruction takes place and the interior of the chapel is occasionally made available to the public. Visiting this place offers a view of the fated fates of a once influential business family and helps maintain awareness of the historical development of secular architecture in northern Moravia.