![Marion Cemetery Receiving Vault](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Marion_Cemetery_Receiving_Vault.jpg)
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
A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...
in a
cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
. Technological advancements in excavation, embalming, and refrigeration have rendered the receiving vault obsolete.
About the receiving vault
Development and use
The receiving vault came into use in parts of the world such as northern Europe, northern North America, and far southern South America, where frozen ground made it difficult or impossible to dig graves during the winter months. In such areas, the receiving vault was used to temporarily store bodies until warmer weather permitted digging. Receiving vaults were also used as a temporary burial site while an elaborate
mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...
or under ground
crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
was being constructed to house the remains. Occasionally they were used to temporarily bury the remains of an individual until a decision was made regarding a permanent place of burial, or until the family had the funds to arrange for a permanent place of burial.
In times of epidemics, in which large numbers of people could die within days of one another, receiving vaults were often used to hold remains until such time as individual or mass graves could be dug. Disease-bearing corpses were also often stored in the receiving vault until such time as authorities believed it was safe to handle them. Some cemeteries, however, barred the placement of diseased remains in the receiving vault for fear that the vault would become contaminated.
Receiving vaults largely ceased to be built once powered digging equipment, such as the
steam shovel
A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil. It is the earliest type of power shovel or excavator. Steam shovels played a major role in public works in the 19th and e ...
and
backhoe
A backhoe—also called rear actor or back actor—is a type of excavating equipment, or digger, consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. It is typically mounted on the back of a tractor or front loader, the latt ...
, made it possible to dig graves in winter months.
Types of receiving vaults
![Side view vault - Park Cemetey - Garrettsville Ohio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Side_view_vault_-_Park_Cemetey_-_Garrettsville_Ohio.jpg)
The receiving vault was most commonly seen from the 1800s into the early 1900s. The earliest receiving vaults were simple underground chambers dug out of hills. Where the ground was level, the receiving vault was dug into the earth, and a mound heaped over it to mimic a hill. Receiving vaults stored coffins or bodies in loculi, or shelves, set into the walls of the vault. The interiors were simple, and often plain, with heavy lockable doors to prevent entry by
grave robbers
Grave robbery, tomb robbing, or tomb raiding is the act of uncovering a grave, tomb or crypt to steal commodities. It is usually perpetrated to take and profit from valuable artefacts or personal property. A related act is body snatching, a term ...
or
body snatchers
Body snatching is the illicit removal of corpses from graves, morgues, and other burial sites. Body snatching is distinct from the act of grave robbery as grave robbing does not explicitly involve the removal of the corpse, but rather theft from ...
.
Receiving vaults built from the mid-1800s onward could be either above-ground or below-ground, and ranged from the simple structure with
loculi
Loculi ( sc, Lòcula) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari and about northeast of Nuoro. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 538 and an area of . ...
(wall niches) for coffins to beautifully decorated, large, and ornate structures. Some cemeteries co-located a
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
(either next to or above) with the receiving vault to make it easier to hold a funeral in conjunction with the vault's use. The cost of constructing and operating the receiving vault was usually borne by the cemetery. Receiving vaults were usually located toward the center or the rear of a cemetery.
Small cemeteries usually used a small, subterranean receiving vault, while larger burying grounds with more income built larger underground or above-ground structures.
See also
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Dead house
A dead house, deadhouse or mort house, is a structure used for the temporary storage of a human corpse before burial or transportation, usually located within or near a cemetery. Such edifices were more common before the mid-20th century in area ...
, usually above ground, with a similar function
References
Bibliography
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*{{cite book, last=Young, first=Brian J., title=Respectable Burial: Montreal's Mount Royal Cemetery, url=https://archive.org/details/respectableburia0000youn, url-access=registration, location=Montreal, publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press, date=2003, isbn=0773525297
Funeral-related industry
Burial monuments and structures