columbarium

[ kol-uh m-bair-ee-uh m ]

/ ˌkɒl əmˈbɛər i əm /

a sepulchral vault or other structure with recesses in the walls to receive the ashes of the dead.

any one of these recesses.

columbary.

Origin of columbarium

1840–50; < Latin: literally, a nesting box for pigeons, equivalent to columb(a) pigeon, dove + -ārium -ary

With a powerful lever the soldiers attempted to prise open the door of the columbarium, shaking the edifice on its foundations.

The Death of the Gods |Dmitri Mrejkowski
On the road to Assiut is a fine Roman columbarium or dove-cote.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 15, Slice 7 |Various
As the niche was like a dove's nest in shape, it was called a "columbarium," the whole tomb a "columbaria."

Rambles in Rome |S. Russell Forbes
There is the Roman columbarium, within the Etruscan site; there are the Etruscan tombs bored deep in all the surrounding hills.

Studies of Travel: Italy |Edward A. Freeman

Archologists call such a group of tombs a columbarium; (see Fig. 230).

Archology and the Bible |George A. Barton

columbarium

/ (ˌkɒləmˈbɛərɪəm) /

another name for a dovecote

a vault having niches for funeral urns

a hole in a wall into which a beam is inserted

C18: from Latin, from columba dove