Tomb

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Tomb

For the New York prison see The Tombs
The Tombs

"The Tombs" is the colloquial name for the Manhattan Detention Complex, a jail in lower Manhattan at 125 White Street, as well as the popular name of a series of downtown jails....
. A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead

Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
. The term generally refers to any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. The word is used in a broad sense to encompass a number of such types of places of interment or, occasionally, burial

Grave (burial)

A grave is a place where a dead body is burial. The grave is usually in a graveyard or cemetery.Graves may contain objects that provide clues for archaeology about the life and culture of the time....
, including: As indicated, tombs are generally located in or under religious buildings, such as churches, or in cemeteries or churchyards.

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A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead

Death

Grave (burial)

Burial vault
Burial vault (tomb)

A burial vault is a structural underground tomb.It is a stone or brick-lined underground space or 'burial' chamber for the interment of a death body or bodies....
s – stone or brick-lined underground spaces for interment (rather than burial), originally vaulted
Vault (architecture)

A Vault is an architecture term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert a thrust that require a counter Friction....
, often privately owned for specific family groups; usually beneath a religious building such as a church or in a churchyard
Churchyard

A churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language or Northern English language this can also be known as a kirkyard or kirkyaird....
or cemetery
Cemetery

A cemetery is a place in which death body and cremation are burial. The term cemetery implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground....
Church monument
Church monument

A church monument is an architecture or sculpture memorial to a death person or persons, located within a Christian church . It can take various forms, from a simple Commemorative plaque to a large and elaborate structure which may include an effigy of the deceased person and other figures of familial or symbolic nature....
s – within a church (or tomb-style chests in a churchyard) may be places of interment, but this is unusual; they more commonly stand over the grave
Grave (burial)

A grave is a place where a dead body is burial. The grave is usually in a graveyard or cemetery.Graves may contain objects that provide clues for archaeology about the life and culture of the time....
or burial vault rather than containing the actual body and are therefore not tombs
Crypt
Crypt

In terms of European architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a church usually used as a chapel or burial vault possibly containing sarcophagus, coffins or relics....
s – often, though not always, for interment; similar to burial vaults but usually for more general public interment
Martyrium - final resting place for the remains of a martyr or saint, such as San Pietro in Montorio
San Pietro in Montorio

San Pietro in Montorio is a church in Rome, which includes in its courtyard The Tempietto built by Donato Bramante....
Mausolea
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 persons....
(including ancient pyramids
Pyramid

A pyramid is a building where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point. The base of pyramids are usually quadrilateral or trilateral , meaning that a pyramid usually has four or five faces....
in some countries) – external free-standing structures, above ground, acting as both monument and place of interment, usually for individuals or family groups
Megalithic tombs (including Chamber tomb
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 interree than a simple grave ....
s) – prehistoric places of interment, often for large communities, constructed of large stones and originally covered with an earthen mound
Sarcophagi
Sarcophagus

A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek language sa?? sarx meaning "flesh", and fa?e?? phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos the word came to refer to the limestone t...
– stone containers for bodies or coffin
Coffin

A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of deceased remains ? either for burial or cremation....
s, often decorated and perhaps part of a monument; these may stand within religious buildings or greater tombs or mausolea
Sepulchre
Sepulchre

A sepulchre, or sepulcher, is a type of tomb or burial chamber. In ancient Hebrew practice, sepulchres were often carved into the rock of a hillside....
s – cavernous, rock-cut or stone-built (often underground) spaces for interment, such as the tombs of ancient Egypt; however, it is generally used to refer to similar Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish or Christian structures. Tombs are very strong and help preserve bodies.
Architectural shrines
Shrine

A shrine, from the Latin scrinium is a holy or sacred place which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor veneration, hero, martyr, saint or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are veneration or worshipped....
– in Christianity
Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
, an architectural shrine above a saint
Saint

A saint in Christianity is a human being who has been called to holiness. The term is used differently by various denominations, with some, such as the Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans distinguishing between Saints and saints....
's first place of burial
Grave (burial)

A grave is a place where a dead body is burial. The grave is usually in a graveyard or cemetery.Graves may contain objects that provide clues for archaeology about the life and culture of the time....
, as opposed to a similar shrine on which stands a reliquary
Reliquary

A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures....
or feretory into which the saint's remains have been transferred
Other forms of archaeological 'tombs' such as ship burial
Ship burial

A ship burial or boat grave is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as a container for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself....
s

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

Catacombs

Catacombs are ancient, human-made underground passageways or subterranean cemeteries composed thereof. Many are under cities and have served during historic times as a refuge for safety during wars or as a meeting place for cults....
, on private land or, in the case of early or pre-historic tombs, in what is today open landscape.

The tomb of Emperor Nintoku

Emperor Nintoku

was the 16th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign....
(the 16th emperor of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
) is the largest in the world by area. However, the Pyramid

Pyramid

A pyramid is a building where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point. The base of pyramids are usually quadrilateral or trilateral , meaning that a pyramid usually has four or five faces....
of Khufu

Khufu

Khufu was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom. He reigned from around 2589 to 2566 B.C. Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth dynasty of Egypt....
in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
is the largest by volume.

Tomb

See also