Thalmayer-mauzóleum

The Thalmayer mausoleum is one of the large grave monuments in the Fiumei út cemetery in Budapest.

History

The Fiumei út cemetery opened in 1849. With the development of burial culture, the custom of erecting decorative grave monuments gradually spread. In the four corners of the cemetery four large mausoleums were built: the mausoleums of the Sebastiani, Saxlehner, Ganz, and Thalmayer families. (The Saxlehetner mausoleum was transferred in the 1950s to the New Public Cemetery when the cemetery wall was modified.)

The Thalmayer family mausoleum was built in the southeastern corner, farthest from the main entrance of the cemetery, directly next to the wall and entrance of the Jewish cemetery on Salgótarjáni Street. (Later the entrance building designed by Béla Lajta was also built here.) Its construction date is unknown, but it could have been sometime at the end of the 19th century. It certainly stood in 1893. Its designer was Mór Kallina (1844–1913), who designed several notable Budapest buildings (e.g., the Buda Vigadó, the Buda Castle Lutheran Church).

According to archival photographs, a large statue (cherub?) stood on the building, which is no longer present today.

In the 1920s the mausoleum was converted into a ossuary (bone vault). Issue 45 of the newspaper Fővárosi Hírlap from 1925 briefly mentions its costs:

“During the demolition of the Thalmayer-owned mausoleum in Kerepesi Cemetery, the masonry work was awarded to Aurél Bédi for 9,820,000 K, the plaster work to József Ranyák for 20,952,000 K, and the tin work to István Ruffián for 25,855,000 K.”

During the conversion, 700 bone vaults were made in it in 1926.

From the inscriptions it can be determined that in the 1950s it was also used for a time as a columbarium (urn cemetery), but several urn places remain empty.

A 42/2013. (VIII. 9.) BM decree on the declaration of certain properties as monuments, as well as the termination of the monument protection of certain properties, placed the mausoleum under monument protection (together with several other graves) (J.449/454).

The building has been out of use for decades, the vegetation has partially overgrown it. Currently (2024) it is closed to visitors because of its life‑threatening condition.

The building

The mausoleum built in eclectic style consists of a central domed part and a smaller wing on each side. On the upper four corners of the central part a palm‑leaf decoration (acanthus) can be seen, and the front is closed by a wrought‑iron decorative grille. The two side wings have no decorative grille. A modern separating grille has been placed in front of the building.