Lying in state is the tradition in which a coffin is placed on view to allow the public at large to pay their respects to the deceased. It traditionally takes place in the principal government building of a country or city. While the practice differs among countries, a viewing in a location that is not the principal government building is referred to as lying in repose.
Read more about Lying In State: Canada, North Korea, Russia, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City
Famous quotes containing the words lying in, lying and/or state:
“Meanwhile the angel,
dressed for laughs as a plasterer,
puts a match to whatever’s
lying in the grate: broken scaffolds,
empty cocoons, the paraphernalia
of unseen change.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“Oh, I love Proust. We all learned from him how to go back in time. The difference is that Proust stayed in his room, and he observed himself. He was Proust lying in his bed looking at Proust at the window who was looking at Proust in bed. In our generation’s case, we are always in the middle. We are never on the outside. Whatever happens, happens to us.”
—Elie Wiesel (b. 1928)
“From this elevation, just on the skirts of the clouds, we could overlook the country, west and south, for a hundred miles. There it was, the State of Maine, which we had seen on the map, but not much like that,—immeasurable forest for the sun to shine on, the eastern stuff we hear of in Massachusetts. No clearing, no house. It did not look as if a solitary traveler had cut so much as a walking-stick there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)