page_title: Morgue
section_title: Around the globe
hierarchical_section_title: Morgue / Around the globe
caption_attribution_description: English: A Scene in the New York Morgue -- Identification of the Unknown Dead, a wood engraving sketched by Stanley Fox and published in Harper's Weekly, July 7, 1866. The city's first morgue opened in 1866 on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital near the East River.
context_page_description: A morgue or mortuary is used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification or removal for autopsy or respectful burial, cremation or other method. In modern times corpses have customarily been refrigerated to delay decomposition.
context_section_description: In some countries, the body of the deceased is embalmed before disposal, which makes refrigeration unnecessary.
  In many countries, the family of the deceased must make the burial within 72 hours (three days) of death, but in some other countries it is usual that burial takes place some weeks or months after the death. This is why some corpses are kept as long as one or two years at a hospital or in a funeral home. When the family has enough money to organize the ceremony, the corpse is taken from the cold chamber for burial.
  In some funeral homes, the morgue is in the same room, or directly adjacent to, the specially designed ovens, known as retorts, that are used in funerary cremation. Some religions dictate that, should a body be cremated, the family must witness its incineration. To honor these religious rites, many funeral homes install a viewing window, which allows the family to watch as the body is inserted into the retort. In this way, the family can honor their customs without entering the morgue.
  Oversized mortuary fridge spaces have been installed in British hospitals to cope with the increase in obesity.
caption: The first morgue in New York City, opened in 1866 at Bellevue Hospital
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