cemetery.]]
A is a repository for the remains of the Dead .
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 , including:
- Burial Vault s – stone or brick-lined underground spaces for interment (rather than burial), originally Vaulted , often privately owned for specific family groups; usually beneath a religious building such as a Church or in a Churchyard or Cemetery
- Church Monument 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 or burial vault rather than containing the actual body and are therefore not tombs
- Crypt 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
- Mausolea (including Ancient Pyramids in some countries) – external free-standing structures, above ground, acting as both monument and place of interment, usually for individuals or family groups
- Megalithic Tomb s (including Chamber Tomb s) – prehistoric places of interment, often for large communities, constructed of large stones and originally covered with an earthen mound
- Sarcophagi – stone containers for bodies or Coffin s, often decorated and perhaps part of a monument; these may stand within religious buildings or greater tombs or mausolea
- ; however, it is generally used to refer to similar Jewish or Christian structures.
- Architectural Shrines – in Christianity , an architectural shrine above a Saint 's first Place Of Burial , as opposed to a similar shrine on which stands a Reliquary or Feretory into which the saint's remains have been transferred
- Other forms of archaeological 'tombs' such as Ship Burial 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 , on private land or, in the case of early or pre-historic tombs, in what is today open landscape.
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.
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