Editing Crypt (section)

{{short description|Stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault}}
{{about|the stone chambers called "crypts"||Crypt (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Crypt of Saint Antoninus, Cathedral of Palencia 031.jpg|thumb|[[Visigoths|Visigothic]] crypt of Saint Antoninus [[Palencia Cathedral]] in Spain]]
[[File:Wola Gułowska-trumna.jpg|thumb|A crypt in [[Wola Gułowska]] in [[Lublin Province]], Poland]]
A '''crypt''' (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''[[wikt:crypta#Latin|crypta]]'' "[[Burial vault (tomb)|vault]]") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains [[coffin]]s, [[Sarcophagus|sarcophagi]], or [[Relic|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]], [[nave]]s and [[transept]]s as well. Occasionally churches were raised high to accommodate a crypt at the ground level, such as [[St. Michael's Church, Hildesheim|St Michael's Church]] in [[Hildesheim]], [[Germany]].