cinerarium

views updated May 17 2018

cinerarium (pl. cineraria).
1. Antique ash-chest or urn, often of considerable beauty, to hold cremated human remains. Lids of the square box-like types had horns, so in Neo-Classical architecture the cinerarium lid, with elements drawn from sarcophagus-lids, was the model for a type of capping on funerary monuments, gate-piers, and pedestals.

2. Building to contain ash-chests: a columbarium.

Bibliography

Toynbee (1971)

cinerarium

views updated Jun 27 2018

cin·e·rar·i·um / ˌsinəˈre(ə)rēəm/ • n. (pl. -ums) a place where the ashes of the cremated dead are kept.DERIVATIVES: cin·e·rar·y / ˈsinəˌrerē/ adj.