Mausoleums

The community mausoleum, like the church, must juggle what Richard Krautheimer called a "traffic jam" with real estate concerns.[1] The long hall with its stacked tombs may take its cue originally from St. Peter's in Rome, which was built on top of early Christian graves amassed around that of St. Peter, or from the tightly packed Roman catacombs, whose multiple layers responded to economy and the necessity for expediency. However, the need remains for people to be able to visit their relatives in peace without the interruption of other families.

By contrast, the centralized, domed building has continued to provide fertile forms for mausoleums, in part because it offers a focused architectural setting for honoring the dead. In the Goldman mausoleum, the building recalls a long tradition of using ambiguous references to the Near East for synagogues, while inexplicably placing the building in a conspicuously cruciform site plan.

[1] Richard Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1986