A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment
space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people.
A monument without the interment is a cenotaph.
A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb, or the tomb may be considered to be within
the mausoleum.
A Christian mausoleum sometimes includes a chapel.
Overview The word derives from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus,
the grave of King Mausolus, the Persian satrap of Caria, whose large tomb was one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Historically, mausolea were, and still may be, large and impressive constructions for
a deceased leader or other person of importance.
However, smaller mausolea soon became popular with the gentry and nobility in many countries.
In the Roman Empire, these were often ranged in necropoles or along roadsides: the via
Appia Antica retains the ruins of many private mausolea for miles outside Rome.
However, when Christianity became dominant, mausoleums were out of use.
Later, mausolea became particularly popular in Europe and its colonies during the early
modern and modern periods.
A single mausoleum may be permanently sealed.
A mausoleum encloses a burial chamber either wholly above ground or within a burial vault
below the superstructure.
This contains the body or bodies, probably within sarcophagi or interment niches.
Modern mausolea may also act as columbaria with additional cinerary urn niches.
Mausolea may be located in a cemetery, a churchyard or on private land.
In the United States, the term may be used for a burial vault below a larger facility,
such as a church.
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California, for example, has
6,000 sepulchral and cinerary urn spaces for interments in the lower level of the building.
It is known as the "crypt mausoleum".
Notable mausolea
Africa Mausoleum of Mohammed V
The Dr. John Garang De Mabior mausoleum in Juba, South Sudan.
The mastaba Agostinho Neto's Mausoleum in Luanda, Angola.
Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum Marien Ngouabi's mausoleum and Pierre Savorgnan
de Brazza's mausoleum in Brazzaville, The Republic of Congo.
Laurent Kabila's mausoleum in Kinshasa, The Democratic Republic of Congo.
The pyramids of ancient Egypt and Nubian pyramids are also types of mausolea.
Abdel Nasser Mosque, is the Mausoleum of Gamal Abdel Nasser, in Cairo, Egypt.
Unknown Soldier Memorial Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania
Al Hussein Mosque, Cairo – a Holy Shrine and Mausoleum, where it is believed by some
that the head of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's grandson is buried.
Qalawun Mausoleum is the Mausoleum of Qalawun, Located in Cairo, Egypt, it was regarded by
scholars as the second most beautiful medieval mausoleum ever to be built.
Kamuzu Banda Mausoleum, in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, President of Malawi built a mausoleum in which his late first
wife and Bingu himself are buried.
King Sobhuza II Memorial Park, Lobamba, Swaziland.
Julius Nyerere's mausoleum in Butiama Cemetery, Tanzania.
Mausoleum of the Late President of Kenya Mzee Jomo Kenyatta in Nairobi, Kenya.
Asia, Eastern, Southern, and South-East Taj Mahal at Agra, India
Rozat Tahera at Mumbai, India Humayun's Tomb at Delhi, India
Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor biggest underground mausoleum
The pyramids of ancient China are also types of mausolea.
Qianling Mausoleum in China, houses the remains of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and the ruling
Empress Wu Zetian, along with 17 others in auxiliary tombs.
Mausoleum of Genghis Khan in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia.
Tomb of Jahangir at Shahdara, near Lahore, Pakistan.
Mazar-e-Quaid at Karachi, Pakistan Data Durbar at Lahore, Pakistan
Mausoleum of Hazrat Mai Safoora Qadiriyya, Punjab Pakistan
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Kumsusan Palace of the Sun or Kim Il-sung
Mausoleum, Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, Beijing.
Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Nanjing.
National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei.
Cihu Mausoleum Touliao Mausoleum
Quezon Memorial, in Quezon City, Philippines, houses the remains of Philippine President
Manuel Quezon and his wife Aurora.
Astana Giribangun Suharto family complex in traditional Javanese architectural style in
Karanganyar, Central Java Imogiri complex in Imogiri, Central Java is
the cemetery for Mataram royals and the Hamengkubuwana Royals of Yogyakarta and Pakubuwono of Surakarta
Marcos Museum and Mausoleum in Batac City, Ilocos Norte, Philippines, the mausoleum houses
the remains of Former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
Nikkō Tōshō-gūin Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
It is part of the "Shrines and Temples of Nikkō", Mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Tokugawa
shoguns.
Rinnō-ji in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
The temple also administers the Taiyū-in Reibyō, which is the mausoleum of Tokugawa
Iemitsu, the third Tokugawa shogun.
Together with Nikkō Tōshō-gū and Futarasan Shrine.
Zuihōden in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan is the mausoleum complex of Date Masamune
and his heirs, daimyō of the Sendai Domain.
Sennyū-ji, Kyoto, Japan.
Musashi Imperial Graveyard, is a mausoleum complex in Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan.
Asia, western Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
Mausoleum of Cyrus the Great in Pasargadae, Iran.
Naqsh-e Rustam at Persepolis Iran, Tombs of Persian Achaemenid kings.
The Shrine of the Báb and the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh in Haifa and Acre, Israel, respectively.
Imam Husayn Mosque, Karbala – according to Shī‘ah belief, the head and body of
Husayn ibn Ali, along with all others who fell at the Battle of Karbala are buried here.
Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran The Mausoleum of Khomeini in Tehran, Iran
Europe
Anitkabir mausoleum of Ataturk the founder of the Republic of Turkey at Ankara, Turkey
Bismarck Mausoleum outside Friedrichsruh in northern Germany
Hamilton Mausoleum at Hamilton in Scotland House of Karageorgevich Mausoleum, St. George′s
Church, Oplenac in Topola, Serbia Royal Mausoleum and the Duchess of Kent's
Mausoleum at Frogmore, England Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg,
Russia.
Cathedral of the Archangel in Moscow, Russia.
Lenin's Mausoleum in Moscow, Russia.
Cathedral of Saint Domnius in Split, Croatia Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome, Italy.
Pantheon, Rome in Italy Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome, Italy
Mausoleum of Theodoric in Ravenna, Italy Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy
Mausoleum of Marasesti in Marasesti, Romania Batenberg Mausoleum in Sofia, Bulgaria
Mausoleum, Stoke-on-Trent in England Panthéon, Paris in France
Les Invalides in France Imperial Crypt in Austria
Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Belgium Oplenac Mausoleum in Topola, Serbia, the Mausoleum
of the Serbian and Yugoslav Royal House of Karađorđević
Latin America
El Ángel Victory column and mausoleum to the heroes of the Mexican Independence in
Mexico City, Mexico.
Monumento a la Revolución monument commemorating and mausoleum to the heroes of the Mexican
Revolution in Mexico City, Mexico.
Obelisk of São Paulo mausoleum to the heroes of Constitutionalist Revolution in São Paulo
City, São Paulo, Brazil.
Chico Xavier mausoleum in Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Presbitero Maestro mausoleum and museum in Lima, Peru.
Plaza de Los Heroes mausoleum to the heroes of the War of the Pacific in Valparaiso, Chile.
Mausoleo a los Heroes de El Polvorín, at Cementerio Civil de Ponce in Ponce, Puerto
Rico Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, mausoleum
of General San Martín.
Artigas Mausoleum, mausoleum of José Gervasio Artigas.
National Pantheon of Venezuela, mausoleum of Simón Bolívar.
National Pantheon of the Heroes Altar de la Patria
Mausoléu Imperial, mausoleum of the Brazilian Imperial Family in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil.
North America Henry Flagler's Mausoleum in St. Augustine,
Florida Grant's Tomb, New York City – loosely based
on Mausolos' original mausoleum.
Abraham Lincoln's tomb in Springfield, Illinois Miles Mausoleum in Arlington National Cemetery
Queen of Heaven Mausoleum in Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois
Rose Chapel Mausoleum in Roseland Park Cemetery, Berkley, Michigan
Tombs of the Uga mascots inside Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia
Shrine of the Good Shepherd Chapel Mausoleum, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Eaton Mausoleum, Toronto, Ontario Oceania
Massey Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand where New Zealand Prime Minister William Massey
and his wife are interred.
Royal Mausoleum in Honolulu, Hawaii where the members of the Kamehameha and Kalākaua
dynasties are interred.
See also Crypt
Grave Graveyard
Ohel Tomb
Columbarium Monument
Royal mausoleum Footnotes
External links Mausolea and Monuments Trust, gazetteer of
mausolea in England Marvelous Mausoleums Around The World - slideshow
at The Huffington Post