A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a

repository Repository may refer to: Archives and online databases * Content repository, a database with an associated set of data management tools, allowing application-independent access to the content * Disciplinary repository (or subject repository), an ...

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'', and is a method of final disposition, as an alternative to

cremation Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre is ...

or burial.

Overview

The word is used in a broad sense to encompass a number of such types of places of interment or, occasionally, burial, including: * Architectural shrines – in

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, an architectural shrine above a saint's first place of burial, as opposed to a similar shrine on which stands a reliquary or

feretory This page is a glossary of architecture. A B C The Caryatid Porch of the Erech ...

into which the saint's remains have been transferred * Burial vault – a stone or brick-lined underground space for multiple burials, originally

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

, often privately owned for specific family groups; usually beneath a religious building such as a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

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 ...

** Churchyard * Catacombs *

Chamber tomb A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interred than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could ...

Charnel house A charnel house is a vault or building where human skeletal remains are stored. They are often built near churches for depositing bones that are unearthed while digging graves. The term can also be used more generally as a description of a pl ...

* Church monument – within a church (or a tomb-style chest in a churchyard) may be a place of interment, but this is unusual; it may more commonly stand over the

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 grav ...

or burial vault rather than containing the actual body and therefore is not a tomb. *

Coemeterium Coemeterium (Latin for "cemetery", from the Ancient Greek, κοιμητήριον, ''koimeterion'' = "bedroom, resting place") was originally a free-standing, multi-roomed Early Christian gravesite. Bodies were buried in wall niches and under the ...

* Crypts – often, though not always, for interment; similar to burial vaults but usually for more general public interment *

Hypogeum A hypogeum or hypogaeum (plural hypogea or hypogaea, pronounced ; literally meaning "underground", from Greek ''hypo'' (under) and ''ghê'' (earth)) is an underground temple or tomb. Hypogea will often contain niches for cremated human rem ...

tomb – stone-built underground structure for interment, such as the

tombs of ancient Egypt A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') 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 ''immureme ...

Kokh (tomb) A rock-cut tomb is a burial chamber that is cut into an existing, naturally occurring rock formation, so a type of rock-cut architecture. They are usually cut into a cliff or sloping rock face, but may go downward in fairly flat ground. It was a ...

– a rectangular rock-cut sloping space, running inward, like tunnels into rock, sufficiently high and wide to permit the admission of a corpse * Martyrium – Mausoleum for the remains of martyrs, such as

San Pietro in Montorio San Pietro in Montorio (Saint Peter on the Golden Mountain) is a church in Rome, Italy, which includes in its courtyard the ''Tempietto'', a small commemorative '' martyrium'' (tomb) built by Donato Bramante. History The Church of San Pietro in ...

* Mausoleum (including ancient pyramid in some countries) – external free-standing structure, above ground, acting as both monument and place of interment, usually for individuals or a family group *

Megalithic tomb A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

(including

) – prehistoric place of interment, often for large communities, constructed of large stones and originally covered with an earthen mound * Necropolis * Ohel (grave), Ohel, a structure built around the grave or graves of Hasidic Judaism, Hasidic Rebbes, prominent rabbis, Jewish community leaders, and biblical figures in Israel and the diaspora * Pillar tomb – a monumental grave. Its central feature is a single, prominent pillar or column, often made of stone. * Rock-cut tomb – a form widespread in the ancient world, in which the tomb is not built but carved out of the rock and can be a free-standing building but is more commonly a cave, which may be extensive and may or may not have an elaborate facade. * Sarcophagus – a stone container for a body or coffin, often decorated and perhaps part of a monument; it may stand within a religious building or greater tomb or mausoleum. * Sepulchre – a cavernous Rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel, rock-cut space for interment, generally in the Jewish or Christian faiths (cf. Holy Sepulchre). * Samadhi (shrine), Samadhi – in India a tomb for a deceased saint that often has a larger building over it as a shrine * Other forms of archaeological "tombs", such as ship burials * Tumulus – (plural: tumuli) A mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a Grave (burial), grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as ''barrows'', ''burial mounds'', ''Hügelgräber'' or ''kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A cairn (a mound of stones built for various purposes), might also be originally a tumulus. A long barrow is a long tumulus, usually for numbers of burials. As indicated, tombs are generally located in or under religious buildings, such as churches, or in cemeteries or churchyards. However, they may also be found in catacombs, on private land or, in the case of early or pre-historic tombs, in what is today open landscape. The Daisen Kofun, the tomb of Emperor Nintoku (the 16th Emperor of Japan), is the largest in the world by area. However, the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt is the largest by volume.

Composition

* Cadaver monument * Columbarium * Grave * Headstone * Lychgate * Morgue * Ossuary * Reliquary

Styles

* Beehive tomb * English church monuments

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=March 2017 Burial monuments and structures Subterranea (geography) Tombs,

Overview

Composition

Styles

See also

References