Soon after the Woodland Chapel was inaugurated, it became clear that it was too small, so Sigurd Lewerentz was commissioned to design a larger stone chapel in the southern part of the Skogskyrkogården. It stands at the end of the long, straight path to the south called Seven Springs Way. Mounted on twelve columns, the portico leads visitors into the quiet chapel with its attractive mosaic floor and many fine details. The elegant single window signifies the importance of the chapel as a link with heaven. The organ gallery is high up and hidden from view so that heavenly music can rain down on the mourners.
The mosaic floor. Photo: Susanne Hallmann
Lewerentz wanted a chapel with a separate entrance and exit so that, after the ceremony, mourners could leave a different way and so return to their lives. In his original design, the chapel was to be placed so that visitors would enter from the north and leave from the south. However, the proposal was roundly rejected. The chapel had to be built according to Christian tradition along an east-west axis, with the altar at the east end — the direction of sunrise and rebirth.
Interior of Chapel of resurrection. Photo: Susanne Hallmann
However, Lewerentz was a stubborn man, so the chapel itself was indeed built east to west, but the portico faces north to south. This means that visitors enter from the north and leave to the west.
Interior
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