Mausoleum

A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people.

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.

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.

Modern mausolea may also act as columbaria (a type of mausoleum for cremated remains) with additional cinerary urn niches.