Graveyard with mortuary chapel

Originally, the graveyard in Mondsee was located in the area of ​​the present Karlsgarten, around the former parish church of St. Stephen. Abbot Wolfgang Haberl had a cemetery chapel built there in 1499. The mortuary chapel was 12 m long, 6 m wide and 4¾ m high, partly with marble grave slabs, partly paved with other stone tiles. The windows were equipped with armored grates. There was neither tower nor sacristy. In the course of the Josephine church reduction the Stephanskirche had to be closed in 1785. It was auctioned in 1789 and demolished in 1791. The mortuary chapel was bought by the captain of the house 2).

It was also used as a morgue, after 1858 also as an apartment and locksmith's workshop until it was also demolished in 1879.3)
In 1814, the cemetery was relocated to its current location and laid out in the size known as the "old cemetery". Pastor Bonifaz Bruckmayer (died 1833) had already the intention to build a funeral chapel at the cemetery. The capital for this was, however, demanded for the government debt settlement fund and reclaimed in 1857.4)

In 1857 a new chapel was finally built on the southeast corner of the cemetery on a property of the princess Ignacia von Wrede. In 1878 there was a basic exchange: "The former mortuary chapel, then morgue, now locksmith workshop is ceded to the princess - the end of 1876 existing Fortune of the death chapel remains the church - since the morgue is already listed at the southeast corner of the cemetery, the contract can enter into force immediately. "5)

In 1863 Georg Hierzenberger, scythe manufacturer in Mondsee, donated the large cemetery cross with the inscription: Life is our way - God is our goal. Since 1878 it is in the Mondseer cemetery. In a letter from the episcopal ordinariate dated August 6, 1879 it says: "In order to comply with the wish of the deceased Georg Hierzenberger, it is necessary that a certificate is issued by the owner of the Mondseer cemetery, in which the liability is assumed that the cross mentioned above should never be taken away from its present place, and not even if the cemetery was to be erected elsewhere. "6) In 2001, as part of the renovation of the cemetery and the renovation of the cross was necessary. The metal body is currently being restored.

From 1909 there are plans for a new cemetery chapel. The market town provided a basic unit for the extension of the morgue on Bürgerspitalgrund for Kr. 2.00 per square meter. The morgue was built at the north corner of the cemetery and was used as such until 1983.7)
In 1968 there was a partial closure of the cemetery, 1969 imposed the district police the lock for sanitary reasons. Under Mayor Josef Mörtl was begun in 1973 with the construction of a new cemetery on the Gasterbauergründe. Against this location there were objections from different groups. With the change of mayor in 1974, the construction was stopped and the renovation and extension of the old cemetery were promoted.8)

In autumn 1976, a first extension of the existing cemetery was obtained. On June 29, 1978, the then provisional judge Josef Edlinger dedicated the new part of the cemetery. In the passage to the new cemetery, the memory of the fallen soldiers  of the four townships of Mondsee are honored with their photos. The statue - which used to be the war memorial on Wrede Square - is now placed here. Alois Steininger was hired by the parish on 3 March 1975 as a cemetery gardener and gravedigger, assuming the duties of his father Matthias Steininger.

The big cross with the inscriptions: Peace, Faith, Hope, which stands in the new cemetery part, is a donation of Alois Steininger. Helmut Meindl designed the pedestal. In 1981 it was again about to build a new, larger Aufbahrungshalle. For this purpose, a 56 m² property was also purchased by Swiss Post. According to the plans of architect Dipl.-Ing. Karl Krämmer from Gmunden in 1983, the new present Aussegnungshalle was rebuilt on the SO side of the cemetery, in which funeral ceremonies can be held on a smaller scale. The old depot used to be a florist for many years. Together with the entire cemetery, it is a listed building, with the option that necessary changes can be made by agreement.

In 2006, the request was made to build a passage to the cemetery, as the sidewalk ended from the market center at the house wall. This allows the entrance to the cemetery without using the busy Rainerstraße.10)
Noteworthy are the family graves, which are attached around the old cemetery part. The burial place of the priests - the priest crypt - in the middle of the southern part was a few years ago a little redesigned by the individual grave borders were removed. The tomb is a worthy memorial to the ministers buried here.

​2) vgl. Hertha Awecker – Mondsee, Markt – Kloster - Land S. 69 ff.
3) Pfarrarchiv Nr. 17884 und Hertha Awecker – Mondsee, Markt – Kloster – Land S. 71
4) Pfarrarchiv Zl. 55 vom 13. 1. 1854
5) Pfarrarchiv – Schreiben vom 1. 8. 1878
6) Pfarrarchiv Z. 1033 K. V.
7) Pfarrarchiv Friedhofskapelle
8) Josef Mörtl – Geschichten aus meinem Leben S. 92
9) Pfarrarchiv – Schreiben von Dipl. Ing. Karl Krämmer vom 12. 3. 1981
10) Pfarrarchiv – Schreiben vom Bundesdenkmalamt vom 17. 8. 2006​