During the early years of Bethlehem, worship took place in a chapel space in the Gemeinhaus (
NO22); the Old Chapel was the first structure built solely for the purpose of worship. It is a simple two-story rubble building, supported externally by an array of massive stone buttresses—apparently added when the weight of the original tile roof began to push out its walls. To the south it abuts the Gemeinhaus and the Sisters’ House (
NO22.1), and is connected to both by internal passages. A gabled entrance block terminates the building to the north, and serves as a simple frontispiece to the building. The Old Chapel served until the building of the Central Moravian Church (
NO22.6) was completed in 1806.