- mausoleum
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—mausolean, adj./maw'seuh lee"euhm, -zeuh-/, n., pl. mausoleums, mausolea /-lee"euh/.1. a stately and magnificent tomb.2. a burial place for the bodies or remains of many individuals, often of a single family, usually in the form of a small building.3. a large, gloomy, depressing building, room, or the like.4. (cap.) the tomb erected at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor in 350? B.C. Cf. Seven Wonders of the World.[1375-1425; late ME < L < Gk Mausoleîon the tomb of Mausolus, king of Caria]
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Large, impressive tomb, especially a stone building with places for entombment of the dead aboveground.The word is derived from Mausolus, whose widow raised a splendid tomb at Halicarnassus (с 353–350 BC). Probably the most ambitious mausoleum is the Taj Mahal.* * *
▪ sepulchral monumentlarge and impressive sepulchral monument. The word is derived from Mausolus, ruler of Caria, in whose memory his widow Artemisia raised a splendid tomb at Halicarnassus (c. 353– c. 350 BC), which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Some remains of this monument are now in the British Museum. Probably the most ambitious mausoleum is the famous white marble Taj Mahal at Agra, India, built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (Shāh Jahān) for his favourite wife, who died in 1631. He originally intended to build another in black marble, opposite the Taj Mahal, but died before work could begin. Other notable examples include the mausoleum of Hadrian, now the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome; that of Frederick William III and Queen Louisa of Mecklenburg-Strelitz at Charlottenburg, near Berlin; of Napoleon III at Farnborough, Hampshire, Eng.; of Ataturk at Ankara, Tur.; and of Vladimir Lenin at Moscow.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
