Columbarium

The burial with a century-old tradition
Originally, columbarium was an expression for a pigeonry. Due to optical similarities, it became also an expression for an ancient Roman grave-chamber consisting of niches for cinerary urns, which are placed above each other. Nowadays, a columbarium is a building or vault, which is used for placing urns and is usually part of a cemetery or a crematorium.

Columbariums in Germany

This type of burial became more popular in Germany with the introduction of cremation in 1879. After the opening of the first crematorium in Gotha in December 1978, there were built columbariums in Germany. The number of columbariums has increased in Germany in the last few years.