Mausoleum

Mausoleum, a sepulchral monument of large size, containing a chamber in which urns or coffins are deposited. The name is derived from the tomb erected at Halicarnassus to Mausolus, king of Caria, by his widow, Artemisia, in 353 B.C. It was esteemed one of the seven wonders of the world. Although apparently in good condition as late as the 12th century, it fell into decay during the following two centuries. The ruins were ransacked for building materials by the Knights of St John in the 16th century. The site was rediscovered in 1857 by Newton, who was instrumental in getting the remains carried to the British Museum (q.v., Vol. II. p. 463). The mausoleum consisted of a basement 65 feet high, on which stood an Ionic colonnade 23½ feet high, surmounted by a pyramid, rising in steps to a similar height, and on the apex of that stood a colossal group, about 14 feet in height, of Mausolus and his wife in the quadriga; these statues are supposed to have been the work of the celebrated Scopas. Later instances of large and magnificent mausoleums are Metella's tomb, Hadrian's (Castle of San Angelo), and that of Augustus at Rome, the mausoleum of Frederick-William III. and Queen Louisa at Charlottenburg near Berlin, that of the House of Hanover at Herrenhausen, of the Prince Consort at Frogmore in Windsor Park, of Napoleon III. at Farnborough, and of A. T. Stewart at Garden City (q.v.), in the United States. The neighbourhood of San Francisco is studded with the mausoleums of American millionaires, one instance being the Lick (q.v.) Observatory; while magnificent structures mark the burial-places of such prominent men as Lincoln, Grant, and Garfield. See BURIAL, and other articles referred to there.