About The Columbarium

About The Columbarium

Honoring a loved one who has passed is a personal and emotional experience. Every family handles this event in a way that best represents their values and the person’s legacy. Up until 2015, the majority of Americans chose burial as the way to create a final resting place for their loved ones. Now, however, cremation has overtaken burial as the choice the majority of Americans prefer. Since 1994, Columbarium Planners has been on the forefront of helping churches and cemeteries by designing and building columbariums that provide a sacred place to house the urns of those who have passed on. Contact us at (910) 295-8328 or request information now.

What Is a Columbarium?

A columbarium is a permanent structure made up of niches, or spaces, where urns containing the remains of cremated loved ones are kept.

  • The word columbarium is derived from the Latin term columba, meaning “dwelling place of a dove.” In the Christian tradition, the dove has long symbolized the embodiment of the Holy Spirit.
  • An outdoor columbarium is the most common type. It may contain gardens and other landscaping features that create a beautiful, sacred space for remembering the loved one, as well as a space for prayer and meditation.
  • The vast majority are church columbariums. Churches usually build a columbarium in response to the requests of its members or parishioners.
  • Columbariums are also a growing part of today’s cemeteries.
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Church Columbariums

Clergy and lay leaders often cite several spiritual considerations that lead the congregation to decide in favor of building a columbarium. Common considerations are included below.

  1. A columbarium on church grounds provides a final resting place with special meaning for church members for whom involvement in the church was an important part of life on earth.
  2. For many congregations, the columbarium is a natural extension of the church’s role as home for the sacraments and ceremonies members experience at different stages of their spiritual journeys: baptism, confirmation, communion, weddings, and funerals.
  3. A columbarium provides a spiritually meaningful place where families can memorialize their loved ones when financial circumstances or the limited availability of conveniently located cemetery plots make earthen interment difficult or impractical.
  4. Finally, more practical considerations are also a factor. In today’s increasingly mobile society, placement of cremains in a columbarium allows the option of relocating loved ones’ remains as families move or decide to place cremains in the care of different family members.

Columbarium Planners is careful to take all of your desires into consideration during the planning and construction phases. Every project is completely customized by our team of thoughtful site planners, landscape architects, and facility designers. We do not use any prefabricated structures. Read more about CPI here.

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Cemetery Columbariums

Occasionally, public cemeteries may build a columbarium for various reasons.

  1. People not associated with a church have cremated a loved one and need a place for the urn.
  2. While some people choose to bury an urn in a cemetery, most bereaved like to have the urn accessible to see and touch.
  3. Many municipalities no longer have room in their cemeteries and need other options.
  4. A mobile society means that people often move to a warmer locale in their later years. However, they often specify that they want to be returned to their hometown after their death. It is much easier to do this when the person has been cremated.

With years of experience in planning and building, Columbarium Planners is here to assist in determining if a columbarium will serve your congregation or community well. We understand the emotional and spiritual significance of providing a sacred place for those who have passed on and for their loved ones who remain. Call (910) 295-8328 or request information now. With our headquarters located in North Carolina, we build columbariums in the eastern half of the United States, including South Carolina, Virginia, and many other areas.

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