A place of farewell for all people of unterleiterbach
It almost seemed like a never-ending story: more than six years ago, the market town council of zapfendorf visited the dilapidated mortuary in unterleiterbach during a site visit. Since the renovation turned out to be too expensive, the decision was quickly made to build a new building. But he delayed, several drafts were discussed, finances played more and more a role. Now the new mortuary is standing – and was handed over to its intended purpose in the course of a church service.
Cracks in the walls
When cracks appeared a few years ago in the unterleiterbach morgue, which was built in 1970, they were repeatedly patched up. The renovation, however, turned out to be not exactly permanent. Perhaps the building lacked a proper foundation, the councilors suggested, and the bells housed in the roof and the shock they caused did the rest. It soon became clear that if unterleiterbach was to continue to have a mortuary, a new building would have to be built.
There were discussions about a separate bell tower, about a toilet facility and about the sense and nonsense of having charnel houses in the different parts of the community. At the end of the process, the design of the current building was created – with the bells in the attic, as before. In the course of the construction period, including the furnishings, around 116,000 euros were spent on the mortuary "an attractive building at a reasonable cost", as mayor josef martin (CSU/VU) called it at the inauguration ceremony.
Father charles and pastor kornelius holmer were also present. "It is a special day for me to be able to help inaugurate a mortuary. In my home country, the new federal states, death was mostly pushed to the margins. But saying goodbye is essential for us to be able to grieve and come to terms with the death of a loved one, said pastor holmer. Together with father charles, he consecrated the building, which was accompanied by the music of the unterleiterbach brass band.
