|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| |
| |
|
| |
The History of Columbaria |
| |
For centuries, people have honoured the memory of a loved
one by placing their remains in an urn displayed in a columbarium.
A columbarium is an above-ground disposition site with small, wall niches in
which to place an urn. History tells us that ancient Romans and Greeks built
many columbaria, for all levels of society from slaves to emperors. Some were
built underground in catacombs, while others were built in separate buildings. |
| |
 |
The act of cremating the dead dates back to pre-historic
times. In 700 B.C., in the area of Rome, Italy, a civilization called
the Etruscans honoured their dead by cremating them. They believed
that the fire would purify their loved ones for eternity. |
|
| |
Mother Collecting Ashes After the funeral pyre was extinguished, the matriarch of the
family would gather the ashes of her loved one and place them in
an urn. The urn was kept in a sacred place - the columbarium. |
 |
|
| |
 |
Roma Via Appia
The word columbarium comes from the Latin word meaning ‘dovecote’.
The niches were small spaces carved into a wall, and looked much
like the niches that doves rested in after their long journeys delivering
messages.
The Romans who established their city after conquering the Etruscans
also cremated their dead and placed them in columbaria. |
|
|
The Romans treated death with great respect. A proper funeral
ritual would guarantee the deceased a proper after-life or eternity.
Improper disposition of the body could relegate him to an eternity
of being an unhappy ghost!
|
 |
In order to assure every person in Rome, free or slave a
proper after-life, burial societies were formed. These were
called "collegia funeraticia", and each collegium had its own
columbarium. Every member of the collegium was entitled to
his own niche and urn, and was allowed to place flowers, or
statuary and inscriptions on the niche. Even the very poor
or slaves were entitled to belong to a collegium.
|
|
|
| |
An edict from the emperor Constantine in 400 AD declaring
Christianity as the state religion ended the common practice of cremation
in favour of inhumation. This continued in the Western world until 1869,
when a resolution was passed at the International medical Conference in
Florence Italy. This resolution called all nations present to promote
cremation as "an aid to public health and to save the land for the living".
The movement accepting cremation as a proper disposition spread throughout
Europe, Australia and the Americas.
|
| |
| |
|
|
In the early 1900’s, approximately
10,000 cremations took place in North America.
Statistics indicate that over 750,000 cremations were
performed in North America, representing 46% of funeral
activity in 2001. |
 |
|
| |
The Columbarium at Cape
Collision, Hong Kong
In Asia, the custom of cremation also dates back
many millennia. Today, there are columbaria in
Hong Kong that offer as many as 19, 926 niches
in one building! |
 |
|
| |
|
site map |
|
