Step 3: Decide if you want to purchase a space in a communal burial society’s monument. Instead of purchasing a family monument, you can opt to purchase a niche in a communal columbarium or catacomb. If you choose this option, select the columbarium or catacomb, the niche inside of the columbarium and indicate the price. You will then skip to the burial container task on this worksheet. The burial society option is only available to individuals or couples. In the case of cremation columbaria, you will purchase a niche with space for one or two urns. In the case of inhumation catacombs, niches are in pairs, one on top of the other, so you will purchase one or two niches in the same slot. Buying space in a communal burial seriously limits the opportunity for creativity in your burial and the size of your commemorative inscription but is a considerably cheaper option.
There are four communal burial society tombs:
- The Porta Romana Columbarium
- The Porta Marina Columbarium
- The Porta Laurentina Columbarium
- The Porta Laurentina Catacomb
Three are cremation only (the columbaria) and one is inhumation only (the catacomb).
Niches for Urns in a Columbarium in Ostia