A columbarium is a place for the respectful and usually public storage of cinerary urns (i.e., urns holding a deceased’s cremated remains). The term comes from the Latin columba (dove) and originally referred to compartmentalized housing for doves and pigeons; see dovecote.
The Columbarium of Pomponius Hylas is a particularly fine ancient Roman example, rich in frescoes, decorations and precious mosaics. Roman columbaria were built underground.
Today's columbaria can be either free standing units, or part of a mausoleum or another building. Some manufacturers produce columbaria that are built entirely off-site and brought to the cemetery by a large truck.
In some cases, columbaria are built into church structures. One example is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (Los Angeles, California), which houses a number of columbarium niches in the mausoleum built into the lower levels of the Cathedral. The construction of columbaria within churches is particularly widespread in the Czechoslovak Hussite Church. An example can be seen at the Church of St Nicolas in Old Town Square (Prague). In the Roman Catholic Church, although tradition
al burial is still preferred, cremation is permitted provided that the cremated remains are buried or entombed. As a result, columbaria can be found within some Catholic cemeteries.
Columbaria are often closely similar in form to traditional Buddhist temples which from ancient times have housed cremated ashes. In Buddhism, ashes of the deceased may be placed in a columbarium (in Japanese Buddhism, a nokotsudo), which can be either attached to or a part of a Buddhist temple or cemetery. This practice allows for the family of the deceased to visit the temple for the conduct of traditional memorials and ancestor rites.
Cremation Statistics:
As North American society becomes progressively more secular, it is expected that cremation will gain in favor, and become the normal method of disposing of bodies. A second factor is ecological sensitivity: some people do not want their remains to utilize badly needed land.
The number of cremations in North America has increased dramatically in recent years: from 5% in 1962 to 20% in 1992. 3 As of 1996, about 21% of Americans and 36% of Canadians are cremated at death. Percentages (2) vary from 75% in BC, to 61% in HI, 50% in WA,... 7% in LA, 4% in GA, 3% in MS and 1% in Newfoundland. 4 The high number in British Columbia is partly caused by the large transient population in the province, and the presence of many Hindus and Sikhs who are almost always cremated. Cremation is expected to be the preferred method of disposing of bodies in Canada about 2015 CE. 5
4
| United States Data |
| Year | Number of cremations | % of all deaths |
| 2000 | 629,362 | 26.19% |
| 2007 | 898,721 | 34.87% |
| 2010 estimated figure | Not available | 39.03% |
| 2025 projected figure | 1,909,802 | 58.89% |
| Canadian Data |
| Year | Number of cremations | % of all deaths |
| 1998 | 213,004 | 42.4% |
| 1999 | 221,650 | Not available |
| 2000 estimated figure | Not available | 42.7% |
| 2010 projected figure | 852,452 | 47.4% |
There are over 30,000 funeral homes in the U.S. and Canada offering cremation services.
Environmental Impact:
Cremation is preferable for environmental reasons. Burial is a known source of certain environmental contaminants, with the coffin itself being the major contaminant.[14] Another concern is contamination from radioisotopes that have entered the body before death or burial, although cremation does not seem to be advantageous. For example, one possible source of isotopes is radiation therapy, although no accumulation of radiation occurs in the most common type of radiation therapy involving high energy photons. However, cremation has no effect on radioisotopes other than to return them to the environment more rapidly (beginning with some spread into the air).[15]
Yet another environmental concern, of sorts, is that traditional burial takes up a great deal of space. In a traditional burial, the body is buried in a casket made from a variety of materials. In America, the casket is often placed inside a concrete vault or liner before burial in the ground. While individually this may not take much room, combined with other burials, it can over time cause serious space concerns. Many cemeteries, particularly in Japan[16] and Europe as well as those in larger cities, have run out of permanent space. In Tokyo, for example, traditional burial plots are extremely scarce and expensive,[17] and in London, a space crisis led Harriet Harman to propose reopening old graves for "double-decker" burials.[18]
