putridarium

upright=1.4|thumb|Stone seats in the putridarium in a Poor Clares convent cemetery, [[Castello Aragonese, Ischia]] 280px|thumb|Purgatorio ad Arco, Naples

The putridarium is a temporary burial place, generally in an underground crypt, in which bodies, commonly of monks or nuns, can be stored in wall niches, often seated on masonry chairs with a central hole and vessel to collect the liquids of decomposition. Once the bodies have reached a proper stage of decomposition, the bones are collected, cleaned, and stored in an ossuary.