The cemetery chapel — also known as a funeral chapel (Latvian: kapliča) — is a distinctive type of building in Latvia, particularly in the historical region of Vidzeme (Livland) in the northeast. It combines two seemingly opposite functions. On the one hand, it is a utilitarian structure — a mortuary where the deceased were placed before burial. On the other, it has the qualities of a chapel, a sacred space for farewell rites. Symbolically, the chapel represents a threshold between life and death, often emphasized by its placement at the edge of the cemetery, marking a passage between two realms. Unlike churches, manor houses, or farmsteads, the parish cemetery chapel has remained a marginal and largely unexplored phenomenon in Latvian architectural and art history. This research provides a broader analysis of their architectural evolution, their connections to cultural and historical processes, and their role in the cemetery landscape as well as in the social and religious life of local communities. The paper examines the origins, development, and typological diversity of parish cemetery chapels in Vidzeme up to the First World War. It underlines their functional distinction from noble family mausoleums and ossuaries, while also tracing the influence of the German Leichenhaus (mortuary) tradition of the late 18th century. Burial reforms — notably Catherine II’s decree of 1772 banning interments in churches and towns, and the 1846 cemetery regulations in the Governorate of Livland, which mandated mortuary houses in every cemetery — significantly shaped this tradition. Over time, these structures evolved into chapels uniting three functions: mortuary, funeral chapel, and bell tower. Through selected examples, the paper demonstrates how modest wooden vernacular buildings gradually developed into refined masonry architecture, approaching the archetype of the temple in both form and symbolic meaning.