A burial vault is a structural stone or brick-lined underground

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () 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'', alth ...

or 'burial chamber' for the interment of a single body or multiple bodies underground. The main difference between entombment in a subterranean vault and a traditional in-ground burial is that the

coffin A coffin or casket is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, for burial, entombment or cremation. Coffins are sometimes referred to as caskets, particularly in American English. A distinction is commonly drawn between "coffins" a ...

is not placed directly in the earth, but is placed in a burial chamber specially built for this purpose. A burial vault refers to an underground chamber, in contrast to an above-ground, freestanding

mausoleum 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 o ...

. These underground burial tombs were originally and are still often

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 ...

and usually have stone slab entrances. They are often privately owned and used for specific family or other groups, but usually stand beneath a public religious building, such as a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, or in a

churchyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

. A

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

may be used as a burial vault and a freestanding mausoleum may contain a burial vault beneath the ground.

History and description

After the

Christianization Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...

of Europe, in most areas ruled by the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, vault entombments initially mostly took place inside church crypts under the influence of

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Since the Middle Ages, this form of burial was essentially reserved for the privileged members of society, including monarchs, high-ranking clergy,

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

and other notable individuals. Ornately carved and elaborately designed

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) 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 σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φ� ...

were often used for the dead from higher social classes which took place in church and

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

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 Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

. The last resting places of European monarchs were mostly designed as vaults. Commoners were usually buried in the ground, sometimes in

mass graves A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...

. 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 Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

and modern ideas about hygiene, stemming from the

miasma theory The miasma theory (also called the miasmic theory) is an abandoned medical theory that held that diseases—such as cholera, chlamydia, or plague—were caused by a ''miasma'' (, Ancient Greek for 'pollution'), a noxious form of "bad air", a ...

. In-ground burials outside the walls or boundaries of cities started to replace crypt entombments in the vaults. In 1784, under

Emperor Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...

, a ban on burials inside churches was introduced, with the exception of

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s who were permitted to be entombed in the church crypts. And a similar decree was promulgated by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

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 Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

nobility and gentry of Nordic countries, along with predominantly Protestant areas of Germany. The popularity of vault entombment as a burial method among Protestant

laity In religious organizations, the laity () — individually a layperson, layman or laywoman — consists of all Church membership, members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-Ordination, ordained members of religious orders, e ...

of upper classes might be explained by

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

's view on the 'State of the Dead' and the

Resurrection of the Dead General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief in a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead ( Koine: , ''anastasis onnekron''; literally: "standing up again of the dead") by which most or all people who have died ...

which is attributed to his translation and interpretation of the

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

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. Aside from the religious concerns, the economic and political rise of the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

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 Decomposition is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is ess ...

from escaping. In addition to private burial vaults, many cemeteries had built public

receiving vault 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 ...

s for the temporary storage of corpses for a fee that were only to be interred at a later date.

Gallery

File:Andrian-Werburg burial vault 03.JPG, A brick-lined burial vault containing two sealed zinc coffins in

Vienna Central Cemetery The Vienna Central Cemetery () is one of the largest Cemetery, cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its significance as Vienna's big ...

. File:Zwolle Begraafplaats Meppelerstraatweg Grafkelder Baron van Ittersum.jpg, Subterranean burial vault of Baron van Ittersum in

Zwolle Zwolle () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the Capital city, capital of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel ...

, Netherlands. File:Wolgast-Kirche-Gruft-130820-087.jpg, Entrance to the ducal burial vault in the Church of St. Petri in

Wolgast Wolgast () is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river (or strait) Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast that can be accessed ...

, Germany. File:Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Schloss, Gruft, Kindergräber.JPG, A row of children coffins in the burial vault of Bad Homburg Castle, Germany. File:Wolfenbüttel Hauptkirche BMV Fürstengruft 001.jpg, Elaborate zinc coffins in the ducal burial vault of St. Mary's Lutheran Church in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. File:Sätuna grave vault Björklinge church Uppsala Sweden 001.JPG, Coffins in the vault beneath Björklinge Parish Church in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

, Sweden. File:Bülow Kirche Gruft 2012-06-01 263.JPG, Coffins resting at the burial vault of Barner family on the churchyard of

Bülow Bülow or Bulow is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bülow family, a noble family from Germany with the surname "#Von Bülow, von Bülow" * Bülow (singer) (Megan Bülow, born 1999), German-Canadian singer * Alexander Bülow ...

in Germany. File:Neuenstadt-gruft-friedr-cla.jpg, Ornately decorated coffins of Duke Friedrich of Württemberg-Neuenstadt and his wife Duchess Clara Augusta of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel in the burial vault of St. Nicholas Church in

Neuenstadt am Kocher Neuenstadt, usually known as Neuenstadt am Kocher (; and until as late as 1800 also known as Neuenstadt an der großen Linde) is a town in Baden-Württemberg in south-western Germany with 9,600 inhabitants. It consists of Neuenstadt, the village ...

, Germany.

References and external links

{{Authority control Burial monuments and structures Christianity and death Subterranea (geography)

History and description

Gallery

See also

References and external links