According to the newspaper, instead of an altar, crosses and icons, a series of caricatures are now hanging in the chapel, which was consecrated in 2012 by Archbishop Feofan of Berlin and Germany. At the time, the Kempinski hotel was keen to market itself as the only hotel in Germany to boast an Orthodox chapel, billed as an attraction for visiting tourists.
The chapel, nine meters high with a floor space of 108 square meters, was built on the premises of a former Catholic church, with the hotel authorities claiming that "there has already been an enquiry from an agency that wants to hold Russian weddings here."
Three years later, however, the chapel is closed, with hotel management blaming a lack of visitors. "The chapel has not fulfilled the high expectations. We've had only one Russian Orthodox wedding here in four years. Now we're using the space for special exhibitions," said the hotel's General Manager Jens Marten Schwass.
Dr. Wolfgang Schälike, director of the German-Russian Institute of Culture in Dresden condemned the closure as "a scandal," which "disregards our most sacred Russian values. It's like the Cold War."
Dresden Archpriest Georgi Davidov, who served as consultant to the chapel's construction in 2012, told Bild of his disappointment at the decision. "It is a great shame, that this space has disappeared," he said.
