Dictionary:
mau·so·le·um (mô'sə-lē'əm, -zə-)  |
[Middle English, from Latin Mausōlēum, from Greek Mausōleion, from Mausōlos, Mausolus (died c. 353 ), Persian satrap of Caria whose tomb was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World.]
mausolean mau'so·le'an adj.| Wordsmith Words: mausoleum |
(maw-suh-LEE-uhm, -zuh-)
noun
A large tomb, usually an ornate stone building.
[After Mausolus, a Persian governor in 4th century BCE. His monumental tomb was considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, after which any grand tomb is now called a mausoleum.]
Taj Mahal, Agra, India:
Usage:
"Wu is leading a delegation to attend the 80th anniversary of the burial of Sun Yat-sen at a mausoleum in Nanjing." — Flora Wang and Mo Yan-chih; Chen Chu Praised For Saying President; Taipei Times (Taiwan); May 23, 2009.
| Thesaurus: mausoleum |
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: mausoleum |
For more information on mausoleum, visit Britannica.com.
| Architecture: mausoleum |
1. A commemorative edifice for the reception of a monument; a cenotaph. 2. A sepulchral chapel to contain tombs.
| Archaeology Dictionary: mausoleum |
An above-ground storage structure for the dead which often comprised large and impressive sepulchral monuments. The original mausoleum was the gigantic tomb of Mausolus, ruler of Caria in southwest Asia Minor, built at Halicarnassus c.353–350 bc. It was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The term later came to be used for any tomb built on a monumental scale.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: mausoleum |
Presumably in the form of an Ionic peristyle set on a lofty and massive base that contained the sarcophagus, it was surmounted by a stepped pyramid on whose truncated apex was a marble quadriga, or four-horse chariot. It was richly decorated with sculpture, including works of Scopas and, quite probably, of Praxiteles. The building itself was demolished for the purpose of reusing the material, but some of the sculpture was recovered (1846) for the British Museum.
A notable Roman mausoleum (135-39) is that of Hadrian in Rome. It was originally a great circular drum sheathed in marble and perhaps covered by a conical stepped roof of masonry; its form, however, has been changed beyond recognition. It is now called Castel Sant' Angelo.
Under the Mughal emperors of India was built a remarkable series of domed mausoleums, many of them used as pleasure pavilions during the owner's lifetime. The most celebrated mausoleum, built by Shah Jahan at Agra, is known as the Taj Mahal. Notable mausoleums of modern times are those of Napoleon under the Dôme des Invalides, Paris; of President U. S. Grant on Riverside Drive, New York City; and of Lenin in Red Square, Moscow. In the United States the term mausoleum is used loosely to describe any sepulchral building above the surface of the ground.
| Fine Arts Dictionary: mausoleum |
A tomb, or a building containing tombs. Mausoleums are often richly decorated. The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum.
| Devil's Dictionary: mausoleum |
| Word Tutor: mausoleum |
The cemetery had one very large mausoleum right in its center.
| Wikipedia: Mausoleum |
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Look up mausoleum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
A mausoleum[1] is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. 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.
The word derives from the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (near modern-day Bodrum in Turkey), 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 necropoleis or along roadsides: the via Appia Antica retains the ruins of many private mausolea for miles outside Rome. However, the practice fell out of use when Christianity became dominant.[2]
Later, mausolea became particularly popular in Europe and its colonies during the early modern and modern periods. These are usually small buildings with walls, a roof and sometimes a door for additional interments or visitor access. 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 (a type of mausoleum for cremated remains) 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'.
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| Translations: Mausoleum |
Nederlands (Dutch)
mausoleum, grote sombere ruimte
Français (French)
n. - mausolée
Deutsch (German)
n. - Mausoleum
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μαυσωλείο
Português (Portuguese)
n. - mausoléu (m)
Español (Spanish)
n. - mausoleo
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - mausoleum
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
壮丽的坟墓, 阴森森的大厦, 陵墓
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 壯麗的墳墓, 陰森森的大廈, 陵墓
한국어 (Korean)
n. - (세계 불가사의의 하나인) 대영묘, 무덤
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) ضريح, قبر
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - קבר, מאוסוליאום
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Fine Arts Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more |
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