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Mausoleum

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Model of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (near modern-day Bodrum in Turkey), the grave of King Mausolus, the Persian satrap of Caria from which the word mausoleum was derived.[1]
The Taj Mahal in Agra, India, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Anıtkabir is the mausoleum of Atatürk, leader of the Turkish National Movement during the Turkish War of Independence, the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. It attracts around 3.5 million tourists yearly.[2]
The Thalmayer mausoleum, one of the many destroyed mausoleums (Hungary, Budapest, Fiume Road Graveyard)

A mausoleum is an external free-standing building or standalone structure constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people.[3] A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb, or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum.[4]

The word mausoleum (from the Ancient Greek: μαυσωλεῖον) derives from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (near modern-day Bodrum in Turkey), the grave of King Mausolus, the Persian satrap of Caria, whose large tomb was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.[1]

Mausolea were historically, and still may be, large and impressive constructions for a deceased leader or other person of importance. However, smaller mausolea soon became popular with the gentry and nobility in many countries. In the Roman Empire, these were often in necropoles or along roadsides: the via Appia Antica retains the ruins of many private mausolea for kilometres outside Rome. When Christianity became dominant, mausolea were out of use.[5]

Later, mausolea became particularly popular in Europe and its colonies during the early modern and modern periods. A single mausoleum may be permanently sealed. A mausoleum encloses a burial chamber either wholly above ground or within a burial vault below the superstructure. This contains the body or bodies, probably within sarcophagi or interment niches. Modern mausolea may also act as columbaria (a type of mausoleum for cremated remains) with additional cinerary urn niches. Mausolea may be located in a cemetery, a churchyard or on private land.

In the United States, the term may be used for a burial vault below a larger facility, such as a church. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California, for example, has 6,000 sepulchral and cinerary urn spaces for interments in the lower level of the building. It is known as the "crypt mausoleum". In Europe, these underground vaults are sometimes called crypts or catacombs.

A chapel mausoleum or mausoleum chapel in a cemetery accomodates open or closed-casket funeral services prior to traditional interments.[6][7]

Asia, Eastern, Southern, Central, and Southeast

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United Arab Emirates

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  1. ^ The plurals mausoleums and mausolea are both used in English, although mausoleums is more common.
  1. ^ a b Toms, J. Mason (Winter 2019). "Arkansas Listings in the National Register of Historic Places: The Community Mausoleums of Cecil E. Bryan". Arkansas Historical Quarterly. 78 (4): 423–431. ISSN 0004-1823.
  2. ^ "Anıtkabir'de yabancı ziyaretçi rekoru kırıldı". www.sozcu.com.tr (in Turkish). 28 October 2019. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
  3. ^ https://www.memorialplanning.com/resources/burials/types-of-mausoleums/
  4. ^ "What is a mausoleum, and what are its pros and cons?". www.directcremationservicesofvirginia.com. Retrieved 2025-11-18.
  5. ^ Paul Veyne, in A History of Private Life: I. From Pagan Rome to Byzantium, Veyne, ed. (Harvard University Press) 1987:416.
  6. ^ Crowther, Linnea (April 18, 2025). "The Pros and Cons of a Mausoleum". Legacy.com.
  7. ^ Keister, Doug (April 20, 2013). "Inside the Chapel Mausoleum". Mausoleums.com.
  8. ^ al-Qummi, Ja'far ibn Qūlawayh (2008). Kāmil al-Ziyārāt. trans. Sayyid Mohsen al-Husaini al-Mīlāni. Shiabooks.ca Press. p. 63.
  9. ^ "Chapel Lawn Funeral Home & Cemetery". Archived from the original on 2023-11-28. Retrieved 2025-07-01.
  10. ^ "Fairview Mausoleum".
  11. ^ "Mausoleums and Crypts". Archived from the original on 2025-02-23. Retrieved 2025-07-01.
  12. ^ https://ecc.caedm.ca/our-cemeteries-holy-cross/[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ "HistoricPlaces.ca - HistoricPlaces.ca". www.historicplaces.ca. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
  14. ^ "The crypts and mausoleums of Mount Royal Cemetery - Mount Royal Commemorative Services". mountroyalcem.com. 2024-07-08. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
  15. ^ "Discovery Day - Self guided Walk" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-06.
  16. ^ "Mausoleums". Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery.
  17. ^ "Queen's Park Mausoleum". www.calgary.ca.

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