Catacombs

The first burial galleries to be referred to as "catacombs" lie beneath San Sebastiano fuori le mura, in Rome. The derivation of the word itself is disputed and it remains unclear if it ultimately derives from the cemetery itself or from the locality in which it is found. There is no doubt however that the San Sebastiano catacombs are the first to be referred to as such.

The word now refers to any network of caves, grottos, or subterranean place that is used for the burial of the dead, or it can refer to a specific underground burial place.

Famous examples include:
* Catacombs of Rome in Italy.
* Catacombs of Paris in France.
* Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (or "Kom al Sukkfa", "Shuqafa", etc.), in Alexandria, Egypt.
* Maltese Catacomb Complexes in Rabat, Malta. [cite web |url=http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1113/ |title=Maltese Catacomb Complexes |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |accessdate=2008-04-17 ]
* Catacombs of Sacromonte in Granada, Spain.
* Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, in Italy.
* Catacombs of the Convento de San Francisco in Lima, Peru.
* Catacombs of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.
* Catacombs of St. Mary's Knockbeg College in Carlow, Ireland.
* Catacombs of Edinburgh in Scotland.
* Catacombs of London in England.

There are also catacomb-like burial chambers in Anatolia, Turkey; in Sousse, North Africa; in Naples, Italy; in Syracuse, Italy; Trier, Germany; Kiev, Ukraine. Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, Sicily were used as late as 1920s. Catacombs were popular in England in the 19th Century, and can be seen in many of the grand cemeteries of the time, such as Sheffield General Cemetery.

In Ukraine and Russia, catacomb (used in the local languages' plural "katakomby") also refers to the network of abandoned caves and tunnels earlier used to mine stone, especially limestone. Such catacombs are situated in Crimea and the Black Sea coast of these two countries. The most famous are catacombs beneath Odessa and Ajimushkay, Crimea, Ukraine. In the early days of Christianity, believers conducted secret worship services in these burial caves for safety and reverence for the dead. Later, they served as bases for Soviet World War II guerrillas (see also Great Patriotic War). Ajimushkay catacombs hosted about 10,000 fighters and refugees. Fact|date=October 2007 Many of them died and were buried there, and memorials and museums were later established (it is now a territory of Kerch city).

References

* [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/ Subterranea Britannica] (Subterranea Britannica)

See also

*Cemetery
*Crypts
*Necropolis
*Urban Exploration

External links

* [http://www.catacombs.explographies.com The Catacombs of Paris]
* [http://www.catacombe.org The Catacombs of Saint Sebastian]
* [http://www.showcaves.com/english/explain/Subterranea/Catacombs.html Catacombs]
* [http://www.catacombe.roma.it/index.html The Catacombs of Saint Callist]
* [http://www.yorkshire-guide.co.uk/sheffieldgeneralcemetery.aspx Catacombs in Sheffield General Cemetery]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • CATACOMBS — CATACOMBS, deep, subterranean tunnels, intended for the most part for the burial of the dead. The name is derived from the late Latin catacumba (etymology uncertain) and originally indicated a particular cave, ad Catacumbas, on the Appian Way… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • catacombs —    Underground tunnels in which the early Christians in Rome and other communities buried their dead. Some catacombs also contained chapels and meeting rooms. The painted decorations found in the catacombs are the earliest known forms of… …   Glossary of Art Terms

  • Catacombs —    The catacombs of Brussels denote underground passages formed from sections of the Coudenberg Palace that were buried following the palace s destruction by fire in 1731. Some parts have been incorporated into the surrounding buildings. In… …   Historical Dictionary of Brussels

  • catacombs — plural noun they unearthed the catacombs of an apparently prominent family Syn: underground cemetery, crypt, vault, tomb, ossuary …   Thesaurus of popular words

  • catacombs — Synonyms and related words: barrow, beehive tomb, bone house, box grave, burial, burial chamber, burial mound, cenotaph, charnel house, cist, cist grave, cromlech, crypt, deep six, dokhma, dolmen, grave, house of death, last home, long home, low… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • CATACOMBS —    originally underground quarries, afterwards used as burial places for the dead, found beneath Paris and in the neighbourhood of Rome, as well as elsewhere; those around Rome, some 40 in number, are the most famous, as having been used by the… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • catacombs — (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. charnel house; vaults, tombs. See interment …   English dictionary for students

  • catacombs — cat|a|combs [ kætə,koumz ] noun plural a series of passages and rooms below ground where dead people are buried in the walls …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • CATACOMBS —    caves in ROME and other cities used for the burial of the dead where the EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH found refuge from persecution …   Concise dictionary of Religion

  • catacombs — cat·a·comb || kætÉ™kuːm n. subterranean cemetery, crypt, tomb …   English contemporary dictionary

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