CHAPEL SAINT MARY OF THE ANGELS, ROTTERDAM
Campo Santo
The architect HJ van den Brink designed the Roman Catholic cemetery of St Lawrence in the city centre of Rotterdam as an Italian ‘field of the dead’, a campo santo. He was a disciple of the architect PJH Cuypers and had a reputation as an architect of churches in the neo-Gothic style. This was also the style in which he designed the porches, and the central chapel, surrounded by a circular path with main paths radiating from it. An arcade on top of double burial chambers was built around the perimeter of the cemetery.
Unstable ground
The neo-Gothic chapel, dating from 1869, had subsided because of the poor quality of the subsoil, and demolition was advised, given the risk of the chapel collapsing. A new chapel, shaped like a large, copper-covered Indian teepee, with a clock at the top, was constructed over the vaults of the old one in 1963. Unfortunately, this chapel was also affected by foundation problems. Once again there was a risk of collapse and the chapel had to be demolished. Mecanoo designed the third chapel for the Roman Catholic cemetery of St Lawrence in Rotterdam; this time reinforced with new foundations.
Golden ceiling
The circulation plan of the chapel is based on the theme of the continuation of life. After the deceased is carried into the chapel; there is a moment of reflection in the quiet, meditative building, followed by departure from the chapel, all performed in a single, continuous movement. The space has an organic form with a continuous, curving wall, raised 70 centimetres above the ground. The wall is an intense blue colour, with texts from the Requiem in many languages, reflecting the use of the cemetery by Rotterdam’s multicultural population. The roof floats like a folded sheet of paper above the space. The golden ceiling is artificially lit from below. An opening in the ceiling allows daylight to enter the chapel in a shaft of light that is further accentuated when incense is used.
Precious jewel
The chapel stands on a plateau of gravel on the footprints of the previous neo-Gothic chapel. Two floors, inlayed with natural stone, indicate the place of the priest and the congregation. The clock from the 1963 chapel hangs in the tower. The chapel of St Mary of the Angels is like a precious jewel with a palimpsest-like nature: a site built upon many times, with just a hint remaining of what has gone before.
