Mauzoleum Dietlów, Sosnowiec

Dietl family mausoleum - mausoleum in the Evangelical cemetery in Sosnowiec at Smutna Street, built in 1912, designed by Józef Pomian-Pomianowski. It is one of the greatest works of cemetery architecture in the world and a living proof of the multifaith and multicultural character of the town of Sosnowiec.

Heinrich Dietel was the creator of the first worsted wool spinning mill in the Congress Kingdom, and of the buildings running along today's Żeromskiego Street.

After the death of Heinrich Dietl, an impressive mausoleum was built for him. It is a free-standing brick building, located centrally in the middle of the cemetery. It was built on a circular plan from massive stone blocks with sculptural detail. It was erected from volcanic tuff. The interior of the rotunda is divided into two levels. The upper part is currently used as a cemetery chapel. The mausoleum is surrounded by a low wall, rectangular in plan. The author of the project, modeled on ancient Roman tombs, is the architect Józef Pomian-Pomianowski.

In the crypt of the chapel, in the central place, rested the mortal remains of Heinrich Dietl and his wife Clara, née Jacob. Twenty-two burial niches were also located here, intended for Dietel's descendants. In two of them Klara Dietel's brother Richard Jacob and his wife Helena nee Schroter were buried.

Towards the end of the World War II a Soviet soldier entering the underground part of the mausoleum overturned the bust of Heinrich Dietl standing there, depriving him of his nose. The building, as well as the whole area of the Evangelical cemetery in Sosnowiec, was devastated and stolen with impunity. At the beginning of the 21st century candlesticks were stolen from the mausoleum, brass details from the door were stolen and copper flashings and roof covering were ripped off.

The first concrete restoration project was the parish's 2008 entry of the object into the register of immovable monuments of the Silesian province. Already one year later, the roof covering was repaired, which prevented the mausoleum from leaking into the interior. At the same time the parish developed plans to renovate the object, and in the second half of 2009 the renovation of the mausoleum's facade began. The work was completed in November. The mausoleum is opened annually on November 1 and 2.