History and description
After the Christianization of Europe, in most areas ruled by the Holy Roman Empire, vault entombments initially mostly took place inside church crypts under the influence of Catholic Church. Since the Middle Ages, this form of burial was essentially reserved for the privileged members of society, including monarchs, high-ranking clergy, nobility and other notable individuals. [3] Ornately carved and elaborately designed sarcophagi were often used for the dead from higher social classes which took place in church and cathedral crypts beneath the floor. In this sense, a crypt entombment inside a vault enabled the “intact storage” of the body of the deceased until the Last Judgment.
The last resting places of European monarchs were mostly designed as vaults. Commoners were usually buried in the ground, sometimes in mass graves. Due to pestilences such as plague outbreaks along with population growth and increasing mortality rates, some precautionary measures had to be taken against intramural burials and entombments in the vaults beneath places of public worship which was deemed to be unsanitary. At the end of the 18th century, a gradual change took place in the continental Europe as a result of the Enlightenment and modern ideas about hygiene, stemming from the miasma theory. In-ground burials outside the walls or boundaries of cities started to replace crypt entombments in the vaults. In 1784, under Emperor Joseph II, a ban on burials inside churches was introduced, with the exception of bishops who were permitted to be entombed in the church crypts. And a similar decree was promulgated by Napoleon in 1804, under the Edict of Saint-Cloud. Instead, the tombs were moved to the cemeteries and became the subject of regulation by cemetery management and civil authorities. This decision led to construction of private burial vaults in cemeteries and on private property, both by Catholics and Protestants alike.
Although ecclesiastical burial of the Catholic high-ranking clergy within the church vaults was always a norm from the beginning, the vault entombment has proved to be very popular among the Protestant nobility and gentry of Nordic countries, along with predominantly Protestant areas of Germany. [4] The popularity of vault entombment as a burial method among Protestant laity of upper classes might be explained by Martin Luther's view on the 'State of the Dead' and the Resurrection of the Dead which is attributed to his translation and interpretation of the Biblical verses in Job 19: 25–27 regarding bodily resurrection in flesh; therefore the burial practises of Lutheran-dominated regions were heavily influenced by the notion of a 'well-preserved corpse' in dry, vented vaults. [5] Aside from the religious concerns, the economic and political rise of the bourgeoisie at the beginning of the 19th century and the associated desire for representation contributed to the fact that burial chambers and mausoleums as status symbol, continued to be built as a monumental form of artistic value.
In most cemeteries, the planning and construction of an underground crypt as well as a freestanding mausoleum was subjected to approval and it was possible after examining the submitted construction drawings, and access via stairs was usually permitted if the grave vault was of sufficient size. Although it always had to be enclosed, the relatives were still able to get close to the coffin to pray and pay their respects. Over the course of the 19th century, the free placement of coffins in the crypt vaults was increasingly prohibited, and the coffins had to be sealed in wall niches or locked chambers within the actual crypt, and coffins had to be constructed of metal, or zinc-lined wooden coffins and sealed stone sarcophagi to be used, in order to prevent the bodily effluvia and unhealthy vapors of decomposition from escaping.
In addition to private burial vaults, many cemeteries had built public receiving vaults for the temporary storage of corpses for a fee that were only to be interred at a later date.
Catacombs are human-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire.
A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called immurement, although this word mainly means entombing people alive, and is a method of final disposition, as an alternative to cremation or burial.
A sarcophagus is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word sarcophagus comes from the Greek σάρξsarx meaning "flesh", and φαγεῖνphagein meaning "to eat"; hence sarcophagus means "flesh-eating", from the phrase lithos sarkophagos, "flesh-eating stone". The word also came to refer to a particular kind of limestone that was thought to rapidly facilitate the decomposition of the flesh of corpses contained within it due to the chemical properties of the limestone itself.
A crypt is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb, or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum.
A grave is a location where a dead body is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as graveyards or cemeteries.
The Imperial Crypt, also called the Capuchin Crypt (Kapuzinergruft), is a burial chamber beneath the Capuchin Church and monastery in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in 1618 and dedicated in 1632, and located on the Neuer Markt square of the Innere Stadt, near the Hofburg Palace. Since 1633, the Imperial Crypt serves as the principal place of entombment for the members of the House of Habsburg. The bones of 145 Habsburg royalty, plus urns containing the hearts or cremated remains of four others, are here, including 12 emperors and 18 empresses. The visible 107 metal sarcophagi and five heart urns range in style from puritan plain to exuberant rococo. Some of the dozen resident Capuchin friars continue their customary role as the guardians and caretakers of the crypt, along with their other pastoral work in Vienna. The most recent entombment was in 2023.149
Mauna ʻAla in the Hawaiian language, is the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii and the final resting place of Hawaii's two prominent royal families: the Kamehameha Dynasty and the Kalākaua Dynasty.
The Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States; his wife Mary Todd Lincoln; and three of their four sons: Edward, William, and Thomas. It is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.
After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, a three-week series of events was held to mourn the death and memorialize the life of the 16th president of the United States. Funeral services, a procession, and a lying in state were first held in Washington, D.C., then a funeral train transported Lincoln's remains 1,654 miles (2,662 km) through seven states for burial in Springfield, Illinois. Never exceeding 20 mph, the train made several stops in principal cities and state capitals for processions, orations, and additional lyings in state. Millions of Americans viewed the train along the route and participated in associated ceremonies.
The Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria, is a Catholic church and monastery run by the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. Located on the Neuer Markt square in the Innere Stadt near the Hofburg Palace, the Capuchin Church is most famous for containing the Imperial Crypt, the final resting place for members of the House of Habsburg. The official name is the Church of Saint Mary of the Angels.
The Protestant Church of Peace is situated in the Marly Gardens on the Green Fence in the palace grounds of Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany. The church was built according to the wishes and with the close involvement of the artistically gifted King Frederick William IV and designed by the court architect, Ludwig Persius. After Persius' death in 1845, the architect Friedrich August Stüler was charged with continuing his work. Building included work by Ferdinand von Arnim and Ludwig Ferdinand Hesse also. The church is located in the area covered by the UNESCO World Heritage Site Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin.
The Palatinal Crypt in Buda Castle, Budapest is the burial place of the Hungarian branch of the Habsburg dynasty, founded by Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary. It is the only interior part of Buda Castle which survived the destruction of World War II and was not demolished during the subsequent decades of rebuilding.
Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs, tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and communal memorials to the dead, such as war memorials, which may or may not contain remains, and a range of prehistoric megalithic constructs. Funerary art may serve many cultural functions. It can play a role in burial rites, serve as an article for use by the dead in the afterlife, and celebrate the life and accomplishments of the dead, whether as part of kinship-centred practices of ancestor veneration or as a publicly directed dynastic display. It can also function as a reminder of the mortality of humankind, as an expression of cultural values and roles, and help to propitiate the spirits of the dead, maintaining their benevolence and preventing their unwelcome intrusion into the lives of the living.
The city of London, England, has several catacomb spaces, although the high water table limits subterranean construction. There has been a long tradition of burial under the floors of churches, and during the period of new church construction in the Victorian era many were provided with vaults or crypts under the main structure.
A receiving vault or receiving tomb, sometimes also known as a public vault, is a structure designed to temporarily store dead bodies in winter months when the ground is too frozen to dig a permanent grave in a cemetery. Technological advancements in excavation, embalming, and refrigeration have rendered the receiving vault obsolete.
The Cemetery of Poggioreale is one of the major cemeteries in Naples, Italy. It is also known as Camposanto Nuovo, to distinguish it from Camposanto Vecchio, which is now known as Cemetery of the 366 Fossae. It is bordered by the Largo Santa Maria del Pianto, Via del Riposo, Via Santa Maria del Pianto, and via nuova Poggioreale, and is built upon the ruins of Alphonso II's Villa Poggio Reale.
Abbey Mausoleum was a mausoleum in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States founded in 1924. One of the most luxurious burial places in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, many famous individuals, judges, and military leaders were buried there. The mausoleum encountered financial difficulties and declared bankruptcy in 1966. It suffered vandalism numerous times, and several graves were desecrated. Remains buried there were disinterred and reburied elsewhere, and it was demolished in February 2001. Several architectural features of the structure were salvaged. It was located just outside Arlington National Cemetery next to Henderson Hall.
The Catacombs of San Sebastiano are a hypogeum cemetery in Rome, Italy, rising along Via Appia Antica, in the Ardeatino Quarter. It is one of the very few Christian burial places that has always been accessible. The first of the former four floors is now almost completely destroyed.
The Mausoleum of Honorius was a late antique circular mausoleum and the burial place of the Roman emperor Honorius and other 5th-century imperial family members. Constructed for the Augustus of the western Roman Empire beside Old St Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Mausoleum of Honorius was the last Roman imperial mausoleum built.
