Columbarium

columbarium

One or a series of niches, intended to receive human remains. (See illustration p. 232.) columella Same as colonette.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Columbarium

 

a depository for urns containing ashes after a cremation.

In ancient Rome they were specially erected buildings with rows of semicircular niches. An ancient Roman columbarium, built in the first century B.C. under Augustus, was discovered near Rome, on the Appian Way. Today cemeteries and crematoriums are equipped with columbaria.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.