Columbarium, which appeared in ancient Rome, is still used to preserve the remains of the deceased. It is an alternative to traditional burial places, preserving the imperishable memory of a loved one in neat niches under a marble tablet.
Since ancient times, humanity has refused to believe that all existence ends with death. The Romans came up with a beautiful legend that after death, a person's soul moves into a dove. They replaced the words "death", "funeral" with any other. This is where the tradition originated - the burial place was called "columbarium", which translated from Latin meant "dovecote". In ancient Rome, they were built in the form of large buildings, in the semicircular niches of which burials were carried out.
Fiery funeral
In the practice of Christian funerals, the burning of the departed for a long time was considered pagan and was prohibited. However, in the 16th century, when epidemics of terrible diseases arose in Europe, cremation gradually came into practice. At first, funeral pyres were used for this, but this was not a very effective method.
At the end of the 19th century, a German engineer Siemens developed a furnace design in which a jet of hot air was used to burn bodies. The first crematorium was built in Milan, Italy, gradually the practice of construction spread throughout Europe. In the USSR, the crematorium was first built in Moscow in 1920.
Walls with numerous niches were erected next to the crematoria, where urns with ashes were installed after burning. The urns were covered with marble tablets, which indicated the name of the deceased and the years of his life. The niches were very similar to pigeon cages; the forgotten Roman name was immediately recalled. This is how the burial places got the name - "columbarium cemetery".
The last refuge
The Walls of Sorrow is a very convenient type of burial; it does not require maintenance, unlike traditional memorial burials. The marble tablets that cover a separate place in the columbarium retain their attractive appearance for many years. As a rule, benches and gazebos are installed in burial places after cremation, in which relatives and friends can pay tribute to the memory of a dear person. The walls of sorrow have a dignified and aesthetic appearance. Cremation has recently become widespread in large cities due to the following advantages:
- an urn with ashes does not take up a lot of usable space;
- it is possible to bury a niche at any time, regardless of how much time has passed since the installation of the first urn;
- seasonality does not affect the installation of the urn;
- does not require serious material and labor costs.
The Wall of Sorrow is a good alternative to traditional burial in the ground. Burials after cremation in wall niches have a long history, this method has its own advantages. However, the main thing is not how the human body is buried, but whether it will be remembered with respect, passing on the memory of it to descendants.
