Black Angel of Oakland Cemetery

The Black Angel is a monument created by Chicago artist Mario Korbel comissioned by Teresa Feldevert for her family's cemetery plot in Oakland Cemetary, Iowa City, IA. The mysterious, 8.5 foot statue is the subject of legend and mystery. After Teresea Dolezal immigrated to the United States with her son, Eduard "Eddie" Dolezal from Bohemia, they settled in Iowa City. At the age of 17, Eddie contracted meningitis and died in 1891. Teresa had a tree stump monument (located to the right of the angel monument) to mark the burial spot of Eddie's ashes. After the death of her son, she moved to Minnesota and briefely married Joseph Picha, before she utimately moved to Oregon and married Nicholas Feldevert in 1897. After Nicholas's death in 1911, Teresa decided to erect a monument for her family plot in Iowa City, Iowa. She comissioned the monument from Chicago artist Mario Korbel. The statue was erected in 1918. Teresa died in 1924, and her ashes were interred under the Black Angel with her husband and her son.