Mausoleum vs. Crypt

Main Difference

The main difference between Mausoleum and Crypt is that the Mausoleum is a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people and Crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault.

• Mausoleum

  A mausoleuma is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb, or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum.

• Crypt

  A crypt (from Latin crypta “vault”) is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.

  Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a church, such as at the Abbey of Saint-Germain en Auxerre, but were later located beneath chancel, naves and transepts as well. Occasionally churches were raised high to accommodate a crypt at the ground level, such as St Michael’s Church in Hildesheim, Germany.