"A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to be carried to ...
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the grave.
In Christian burial, the bier is often placed in the centre of the nave with candles surrounding it, and remains in place during the funeral.
The bier is a flat frame, traditionally wooden but sometimes of other materials. In antiquity it was often a wooden board on which the dead were placed, covered with a shroud. In modern times, the corpse is rarely carried on the bier without being first placed in a coffin or casket, though the coffin or casket is sometimes kept open." - (en.wikipedia.org 01.12.2019)