Stourdza-Kapelle

The Stourdza Chapel stands on the Michaelsberg in Baden-Baden, a small rumänisch-orthodox chapel built between 1863 and 1866 in the neuklassizistischen style. Its founders were Fürst Michael Stourdza and his wife Smaragda, who lost their son Michael in Paris at the age of seventeen. The chapel was designed by Leo von Klenze and Georg von Dollmann, two architects known for their work in Munich and elsewhere. The chapel serves as a family resting place and was originally under the jurisdiction of the Ökumenischen Patriarchats in Konstantinopel. In 1882 Fürst Stourdza transferred its care to the Moldau church to honour his Moldavian roots. The chapel’s interior features works by Pariser Maler J. Pérignon, Italian Bildhauer Rinaldo Rinaldi and Franzosen Thomas Gabriel. A 24-metre-high Kuppel, a miniature of St Peter’s in Rom, gives the chapel its distinctive Akustik. Inside, visitors find portraits of the Stourdza family painted on Kupferplatten by J. Pérignon. The Gruft beneath the Altarraum holds the remains of Fürst Michael, Smaragda and two of their children. A marble sculpture by Rinaldi shows the young Prince Michael studying in Paris, while opposite stands a sculpture of the grieving parents by Gabriel. The walls are covered in Fresken by Wilhelm Hauschild, and the Ikonostase and other Ikonen were painted on Kupferblättern by André Müller. A slawonisch embroidered Epitaphium and a Sequoia tree planted by Stourdza complete the scene.