columbarium

noun

1. (historical)A columbary, especially a large and architecturally impressive one for housing a large colony of pigeons or doves, such as those in ancien régime France.

   “Meronym: pigeonhole”

   “Near-synonyms: dovecote, pigeon loft”

   “Their sides present the well-known appearance of the Roman columbaria (dove-cotes), but with the important difference, that they are adapted to contain coffins instead of urns, the holes being about 2 feet square and 6 feet deep.”

   “Doves were culticly protected; great towers were built for them in which they could nest; they were called columbaria (columba is the Latin word for dove).”

   “Fish ponds were stocked with netted fish during the summer as a source of protein and dove cotes, or as the Romans called them, 'columbariums', were another.”

2. A pigeonhole in such a dovecote.
3. A building, a vault or a similar place for the respectful and usually public storage of cinerary urns containing cremated remains.

   “We have seen how it is originally language which works on the construction of concepts, a labor taken over in later ages by science. Just as the bee simultaneously constructs cells and fills them with honey, so science works unceasingly on this great columbarium of concepts, the graveyard of perceptions.”

   “The columbarium (vaults lined with recesses for cinerary urns) in the form of a grotto (a cave-like structure) is the centerpiece of the Elks plot.”

4. A niche in such a building for housing urns.