Concept in Definition ABC

It comes from the Greek, specifically from the adjective kryptós, which means hidden or secret. There are other terms with the same root, such as cryptic, cryptogram, or encrypt. Something cryptic is something that is difficult to understand or seems indecipherable, a cryptogram is written in the form of a key and to encrypt is to save information through a code, as it happens in the language computer with certain passwords or access codes.

To the margin Of the different words with the same semantic origin, a crypt is an enclosure destined for burial. In some cases, this term is used to refer to a place that remains hidden.

In the first centuries of Christianity

Today Christian cemeteries are places without any kind of secrecy. However, the first Christians, also called primitive Christians, practiced their beliefs clandestinely and in secret, as they were persecuted by the Roman authorities. In this sense, it is logical that the places chosen for the burials were located in enclaves with difficult access.

Usually the burial sites were underground galleries dug out of the I usually, also called catacombs. In them there was a specific space dedicated to burying the dead and that place was the crypt. Most of the crypts had a skylight in the ceiling to facilitate lighting and ventilation of the place. In addition to its function as a cemetery, this place was also used for religious worship.

In any case, the catacombs where the crypts were built continued to be built until the Emperor Theodosius converted Christianity into the religion officer of the Roman empire in 380 AD. C.

A place of pilgrimage full of symbolism

Many of today's Christian churches were built on top of the original catacombs and crypts. These places are still visited by some pilgrims. In them it is possible to find the tombs of saints and martyrs of the early Christian church and, at the same time, know the symbolic elements of the art paleochristian (the chrismon that refers to the figure of Christ, the images on the Good Shepherd, the paintings of the Peacock as a representation of the immortality of the soul or the Anchor that symbolizes the future life).

Among the crypts with the highest value symbolic We can highlight that of Santa Eulalia in the city of Mérida, which is considered the first place of Christian worship in the Iberian Peninsula.

Photos: Fotolia - Sasimoto / Spectral