columbarium

Meanings

Plural: columbaria, columbariums

Noun

• a birdhouse for pigeons
• a niche for a funeral urn containing the ashes of the cremated dead
• a sepulchral vault or other structure having recesses in the walls to receive cinerary urns
• A large, sometimes architecturally impressive building for housing a large colony of pigeons or doves, particularly those of ancien regime France.
• A pigeonhole in such a dovecote.
• A building, a vault or a similar place for the respectful and usually public storage of cinerary urns containing cremated remains.
• A niche in such a building for housing urns.

Synonyms

cinerarium, columbary, dovecote