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A crypt (from Latin '' crypta'' " vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains
coffin A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation. Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewel ...
s, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a church, such as at the Abbey of Saint-Germain en Auxerre, but were later located beneath chancel, naves and transepts as well. Occasionally churches were raised high to accommodate a crypt at the ground level, such as St Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany.


Etymology

The word "Crypt" developed as an alternative form of the Latin "vault" as it was carried over into Late Latin, and came to refer to the ritual rooms found underneath church buildings. It also served as a vault for storing important and/or sacred items. The word "Crypta", however, is also the female form of ''crypto'' "hidden". The earliest known origin of both is in the Ancient Greek '' κρύπτω'' (krupto/krypto), the first person singular indicative of the verb "to conceal, to hide".


Development

First known in the early Christian period, in particular North Africa at Chlef and Djemila in Algeria, and Byzantium at Monastery of Stoudios, Saint John Studio in Constantinople where Christian churches have been built over Mithraeum, mithraea, the mithraeum has often been adapted to serve as a crypt. The famous crypt at Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, developed about the year 600, as a means of affording pilgrims a view of Saint Peter's tomb, which lay according to the Roman fashion, directly below the high altar. The tomb was made accessible through an underground passageway beneath the sanctuary from where pilgrims could enter at one stair, pass by the tomb and exit without interrupting the clerical community's service at the altar directly above. The Visigoths, Visigothic crypt (the Crypt of San Antolín) in Palencia Cathedral (Spain), was built during the reign of Wamba (king), Wamba to preserve the remains of the martyr Antoninus of Pamiers, Saint Antoninus of Pamiers, a Visigothic-Gallic nobleman brought from Narbonne to Visigothic Hispania in 672 or 673 by Wamba himself. These are the only remains of the Visigothic cathedral of Palencia. Crypts were introduced into Franks, Frankish church building in the mid-8th century, as a feature of its Romanization. Their popularity then spread more widely in western Europe under Charlemagne. Examples from this period are most common in the early medieval West, for example in Burgundy (region), Burgundy at Dijon and Tournus. After the 10th century, the early medieval requirements of a crypt faded, as church officials permitted relics to be held in the main level of the church. By the Gothic architecture, Gothic period crypts were rarely built, however Burial vault (tomb), burial vaults continued to be constructed beneath churches and referred to as crypts.


Burial vaults

In more modern terms, a crypt is most often a stone chambered burial vault (tomb), burial vault used to store the deceased. Placing a corpse into a crypt can be called ''immurement'', and is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition, as an alternative to, for example, cremation. Crypts are usually found in cemetery, cemeteries and under public religious buildings, such as Church (building), churches or cathedrals, but are also occasionally found beneath mausoleum, mausolea or chapels on personal estates. Wealthy or prestigious families will often have a 'family crypt' or 'vault,' in which all members of the family are interred. Many royal family, royal families, for example, have vast crypts containing the bodies of dozens of former royalty. In some localities, an above ground crypt is more commonly called a mausoleum, which also refers to any elaborate building intended as a burial place, for any number of people. There was a trend in the 19th century of building crypts on medium to large size family estates, usually subtly placed on the edge of the grounds or more commonly incorporated into the cellar. After a change of owner, these are often blocked up and the house deeds will not allow this area to be re-developed .


Gallery

Image:Canterbury Cathedral Crypt.jpg, Crypt of Canterbury Cathedral Image:Worcester cathedral 031.JPG, Crypt of Worcester Cathedral Image:Rolduc Krypta.jpg, Crypt of Rolduc, Rolduc Abbey, Kerkrade Netherlands Image:Gent, Sint-Baafskathedraal crypte B STB 149.jpg, Crypt of St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium Image:Inside the Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral.jpg, Crypt of Helsinki Cathedral, Finland Image:Notre Dame de Bayeux couloirs.jpg, Crypt of Bayeux Cathedral, France Image:Crypte de St Sernin Toulouse.jpg, Crypt Saint-Sernin Basilica Toulouse Image:Zürich - Wasserkirche - Märtyrerstein - Krypta IMG 1189.jpg, Wasserkirche, Zürich, with 'Martyr stone' of Felix and Regula Image:St.Matthias Trier Sarkophage in der Krypta.jpg, St. Matthias' Abbey, Trier, Germany Image:Dresden-Hofkirche-Gruft.jpg, Wettin (dynasty), Wettin crypt in Katholische Hofkirche, Dresden Image:Bernadotte Family crypt Riddarholm Church 2013 Stockholm.jpg, Crypt of Sweden, Swedish royal dynasty (House of Bernadotte, Bernadotte) Image:Kripta spomen Hram svetog Save 1.JPG, Crypt of Church of Saint Sava, Serbia Image: Olhares sobre o Museu do Ipiranga 2017 041.jpg, The Imperial Crypt and Chapel in the Monument to the Independence of Brazil, São Paulo


See also

* Catacomb * Ossuary * Sarcophagus * Tumulus


References


External links

* * This contains a description of various specific crypts in Europe. {{Authority control Building engineering Burial monuments and structures Church architecture Rooms Semi-subterranean structures