Burial of an urn with ashes - in a family or new grave, a columbarium, with a memorial slab

Resting places for ashes

In a family grave

This is the most common option in Georgia: the urn is buried in the grave where family members already rest. An urn needs very little space, so it is often placed beside the earlier burial or in front of the headstone in a way that does not get in the way of future use of the grave. As with a normal funeral, this requires a permit from the cemetery administration and proof of kinship.

On a new small plot

If there is no family grave, a plot much smaller than a standard grave can be allocated for the urn. A small headstone or a horizontal slab with the name, dates and a photo is placed on it. Whether such plots are available depends on the cemetery, and we check this on the day you call.

A columbarium niche

A columbarium is a wall or structure with niches in which urns are placed and closed at the front with a stone or glass plaque. The niche carries an inscription and a photo, with a small shelf in front for a flower and a candle. Columbaria are still rare in Georgia, so we check availability case by case.

In the home village

Many families bury the ashes in a village cemetery, in the ancestral grave. In that case we make arrangements with the local community or church, bring the urn from Tbilisi and hold a small ceremony in the village.

Prices

The cemetery administration charges its own fee, settled separately and receipted. If the urn was bought from us or we organised the cremation, the burial is included in the overall cremation estimate.

The ceremony: saying goodbye to the ashes

An urn burial usually takes place within a small family circle, which makes it a particularly intimate moment. Families often choose a date that meant something to the person who died: a birthday, the fortieth day after death (ormotsi) or the first anniversary of the death. The ceremony can include prayer, if the family's spiritual father considers this appropriate, or it can be secular, with relatives saying a few words, reading poems or playing music the person loved. Once the urn has been lowered, family members traditionally throw a handful of earth, and flowers and candles are laid on the grave. Afterwards some families set a small table at the cemetery or at home.

Ashes and the Orthodox Church

The Church's stance on cremation is reserved, and the full funeral rite is usually not performed over ashes. Even so, many believing families who had to choose cremation, for instance because the death occurred abroad, ask a priest to say a prayer at the urn burial or to serve a panikhida (a memorial service) in church later on. That is a decision for the priest, and we help the family raise the question calmly and in good time.

Headstones for ashes

A family can place a headstone on an urn grave just as on an ordinary one, although it is smaller and simpler. Most often it is a horizontal granite slab over the urn bearing the name, dates, a photo and a short epitaph. When the urn goes into a family grave, we simply add the new name to the existing headstone, so the person is remembered together with the rest of the family.

Reasons not to leave an urn at home for years

Keeping ashes at home is not wrong, and for some families it is a source of comfort. Experience shows, however, that an urn left "for the time being" often stays in a cupboard for decades, and the next generation no longer knows what to do with it. Relatives from other cities cannot visit, and when the flat is sold or the family moves, the urn becomes an awkward question. Ashes buried in a grave or a columbarium are within reach of everyone, and the family has a place to go on days of remembrance.

Burying ashes brought from abroad

Many urns arrive in Georgia from abroad, when a loved one died while living overseas and the cremation took place there. Families are often unsure whether the cemetery will accept a foreign certificate, whether a translation is needed and whom to approach. We translate the foreign cremation certificate and death certificate, and, if required, have the death record registered with the Public Service Hall, the state agency many Georgians call the House of Justice,, and obtain the cemetery permit on the strength of these documents. Bringing the urn home and burying it are often handled as a single plan: our staff member meets the urn or a family member at the airport, and the ceremony takes place straight away or on the day after arrival.

Two urns together

When both spouses in a family have been cremated, relatives often want their ashes to rest side by side. The two urns are placed in one small grave or in a double columbarium niche, with a shared slab bearing both names on top. If the first urn has already been buried, adding the second is a simple procedure that takes one day.

Scattering ashes: what to bear in mind

Some people ask during their lifetime for their ashes to be scattered at sea, in the mountains or in a favourite place. In Georgia this practice is rare and not clearly regulated, so we advise families to scatter ashes only on private land with the owner's permission, and to find out the local rules in advance for public places such as a national park or within city limits. Many families choose a compromise: a small portion of the ashes is scattered somewhere symbolic, and the rest is buried in a grave so the family has a permanent place of remembrance.

Steps from the first call to the ceremony

1. Conversation: you tell us where the ashes should rest, whether a family grave already exists, and the style of ceremony you have in mind.
2. Permit: using the cremation certificate and your family papers, our coordinator applies to the cemetery office and brings back its written consent.
3. Preparing the site: on the morning of the ceremony the gravediggers prepare a small recess or lift the slab.
4. Ceremony: the urn is lowered, the family says goodbye, and the grave is closed and tidied.
5. Memorial: if desired, a slab or inscription is installed later, in the warmer months.

Frequently asked questions