Ducal Crypt (Vienna)
The Ducal Crypt is a mausoleum under the chancel of the Stephansdom in Vienna, Austria. It holds 78 containers with the bodies, hearts, or viscera of 72 members of the Habsburg dynasty.
History
Before his death at age 25 in 1365, Duke Rudolf IV3 had ordered a crypt to be built for his remains in the new cathedral he commissioned, and it has sheltered those remains for almost 650 years. He also ordered a cenotaph for himself to be placed upstairs above the crypt, in front of the high altar. That symbolic tomb was later moved to the north choir and his epitaph written in secret symbols was placed on the wall of that choir.
The family of the ruling line of Austrian dukes was buried here after Rudolf IV, but after the dynasty became emperors they were buried in various cities (Vienna was not yet the settled seat of the emperor). After the Imperial Crypt at the Kapuzinerkirche opened in 1633, it became the new dynastic burial place.
Embalmers have known since the time of the Ancient Egyptians that it is necessary to remove the internal organs if the rest of the body is to be preserved. The containers with those organs were usually put in the coffin, but when the heir to the Imperial Throne, King Ferdinand IV of the Romans, died in 1654, he specified in his will that the container with his heart be placed in the Augustinerkirche, his body in the Imperial Crypt in the Kapuzinerkirche, and the urn with his viscera in the crypt at the Stephansdom. His instructions resulted in the foundation of the Herzgruft at the Augustinerkirche. His younger brother, Emperor Leopold I, pursued a tradition imitating that distribution of remains, and also enlarged the Imperial Crypt to make it large enough for additional future burials. The urns with viscera were thereafter regularly deposited in the Ducal Crypt in the Stephansdom. There are now 33 persons who are each buried in all three places.
By 1754 the small rectangular Ducal Crypt was overcrowded with 12 sarcophagi and 39 urns, so the area was expanded with an oval chamber being added (directly beneath the present location of the Archbishop's Throne) beyond the east end of the rectangular one. New sarcophagi were made for some of the bodies.
In 1956 the crypt was renovated and the contents were rearranged. The sarcophagi of Duke Rudolf IV3 and his wife4 were placed upon a pedestal and the 62 urns containing organs were moved from the two rows of shelves around the new section to cabinets in the original chamber.
Deposition in the crypt has not always been permanent. Emperor Frederick III lay here for only 20 years after his death, until his magnificent tomb upstairs in the south choir was ready. The body of his brother Duke Albert VI was removed after 300 years.
The greatest influx, other that the regular arrival of visceral urns, came as a result of the Austrian version of the Dissolution of the English Monasteries under Emperor Joseph II in 1782. When the religious institutions holding bodies of some of the members of the dynasty were closed, they needed to be moved. The Imperial Crypt at that time had only half the space it has today, and already held 57 bodies. The emperor ordered that the bodies of two persons1 14 who had died before the Imperial Crypt opened be brought to the Ducal Crypt instead. Another person, Empress Eleanor,16 would normally have been entitled to space in the Imperial Crypt, but because her husband19 was not buried there either, her body was sent to the Ducal Crypt.
It is probably around this time that the body of Duke Albert VI was removed to make room for others, and that the body15 whose sarcophagus is inscribed with only the year and name of the parents arrived. Identified through other evidence as one-year old Anna of Lorraine, it is known that her brother Charles V, Duke of Lorraine married Archduchess Eleanora Maria Josepha (1653–1697) (widowed Queen of Poland and daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III)21 in 1678, and that marriage may have some connection with this non-Habsburg being brought here, but the exact reason is unclear.
The last item interred here is the urn with the viscera of Archduke Franz Karl78, father of Emperor Franz Joseph, in 1878.
List of persons buried in the Ducal Crypt
The Ducal Crypt shelters the bodies of:
-
2 Duke
Friedrich (1347 - 1362), second son of Duke
Albert II and the 15-year old brother of Rudolf IV.
3
-
3 Duke
Rudolf IV (1339 - 1365)
"the founder," eldest son of Duke
Albert II. Rudolf commissioned the present cathedral, and founded the
University of Vienna before his death in Milan at age 25. He was originally entombed in S. Giovanni in Concha and later moved to here. The University lays a wreath on his tomb every 12 March to commemorate its founding by him.
-
5 Duke
Albert III (1349 - 1395)
"with the pigtail," third son of Duke
Albert II and younger brother of Rudolf IV.
3 Died at age 46.
-
6 Duke
Albert IV (1377 - 1404) son of Albert III.
5 Died at age 27.
-
8 Duke
Leopold IV (1371 - 1411)
"the fat" younger son of Rudolf IVs youngest brother, Leopold III.
-
9 Duke
George (1435 - 1435) infant son of Duke
Albert V.
-
11 Archduke
Karl (1565 - 1566) 9-month old son of Emperor
Maximilian II.
-
14 Queen
Elisabeth (1554 - 1592) Widow of King
Charles IX of France and daughter of Emperor Maximilian II. In 1782 her body was moved here from the convent she had founded.
Gated niches in the original chamber (outside the entrance to the previous chamber) protect 62 copper urns containing the viscera (intestines) of various members of the Habsburg dynasty.
-
17 (Viscera of) Empress
Anna of Tyrol (4 October 1585 - 15 December 1618)
→Family Tree Daughter of
Ferdinand II, Duke of Tyrol and wife of her cousin Emperor Matthias
18 who was 28 years older than her. She provided in her will of 1617 for the establishment of a crypt for her and her husband in a Capuchin's Church to be built in Vienna, and died only one year later, at age 33 after seven years of a childless marriage and is buried in tomb 1 in the
Imperial Crypt she founded. Her heart is in urn 1 in the
Herzgruft in the
Augustinerkirche.
-
- 26 (Heart of) Archduke Ferdinand Wenzel Josef.
-
31 (Viscera of) Empress
Claudia Felicitas (30 May 1653 - 8 April 1676)
→Family Tree Second wife of Emperor Leopold I.
41 Her 22-year-old body, by her own request, is dressed in the habit of a Dominican nun and is entombed beside her mother in the Dominican Church in Vienna. Her heart is in urn 24 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
-
32 (Viscera of) Archduchess
Maria Josefa Klementina (1675 - 1676)
→Family Tree Infant daughter of Emperor Leopold I
41 and Empress Claudia Felicitas.
31 Her heart is in a gold and silver urn atop her mother's sarcophagus in the Dominican Church. She is buried in tomb 12 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
-
- 35 (Heart of) Archduchess Maria Margareta
-
- 39 (Heart of) Archduke Leopold Joseph
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41 (Viscera of) Emperor
Leopold I (9 June 1640 - 5 May 1705)
→Family Tree Second son of Emperor Ferdinand III
21 and father of Emperors Joseph I
42 and Karl VI.
48 He reigned 48 years. He was involved in wars ranging from the defense of western Europe against conquest by the Muslims, to the
War of the Spanish Succession to place his second son
48 on the Spanish throne when the Spanish branch of the
Habsburg dynasty died out in 1700. Leopold died a few weeks before his 65th birthday. His heart is in urn 11 in the
Herzgruft in the
Augustinerkirche and he is buried in tomb 37 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
-
43 (Viscera of) Archduke
Leopold Johann (13 April 1716 - 4 November 1716)
→Family Tree Prince of Asturias. Six-month old only son of Emperor Karl VI.
48 He is buried in tomb 30 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
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- 44 (Heart of) Archduke Leopold Johann.
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46 (Viscera of) Archduchess
Marie Elisabeth Amalie Antonie Josephe Gabriele Johanna Agathe (February 5, 1737 - June 7, 1740)
→Family Tree Three-years old, eldest daughter of Emperor Franz I Stephen
56 and Empress Maria Theresa.
57 She is buried in tomb 48 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
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- 47 (Heart of) Archduchess Marie Elisabeth.
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49 (Viscera of) Archduchess
Marie Caroline Ernestine Antonie Johanna Josephe (January 12, 1740 - January 25, 1741)
→Family Tree Third daughter of Emperor Franz I Stephen
56 and Empress Maria Theresa.
57 Died at age 1 year. She is buried in tomb 53 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
-
- 50 (Heart of) Archduchess Marie Caroline.
-
54 (Viscera of) Archduke
Karl Joseph Emanuel Johann Nepomuck Anton Prokop (1 February 1745 - 18 January 1761)
→Family Tree Second son of Emperor Franz I Stephen
56 and Empress Maria Theresa.
57 Died of small pox shortly before his 16th birthday. His heart is in urn 18 in the
Herzgruft in the
Augustinerkirche and he is buried in tomb 44 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
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55 (Viscera of) Archduchess Marie
Johanna Gabriele Josephe Antonie (4 February 1750 - 23 December 1762
→Family Tree Eighth daughter of Emperor Franz I Stephen
56 and Empress Maria Theresa.
57 Died of small pox at age 12. Her heart is in urn 19 in the
Herzgruft in the
Augustinerkirche and she is buried in tomb 45 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
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57 (Viscera of) Empress
Maria Theresa (13 May 1717 - 29 November 1780)
→Family Tree Eldest surviving descendent of Emperor Karl VI,
48→Family Tree her ascension was contested and officially the crown of the Empire went to her husband (1736) Emperor Franz I Stephen.
56 but she held Hungary and Bohemia as Queen in her own right. Dying at age 63, her forty years' reign is thought of by the Austrians as the British think of
Queen Victoria: the golden years of power, prestige and empire. Her heart is in urn 21 in the
Herzgruft in the
Augustinerkirche and she is buried in tomb 56 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
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60 (Viscera of) Empress
Maria Ludovika (24 November 1745 - 15 May 1792)
→Family Tree Originally contracted to marry Empress Maria Theresia's
57 second son, Archduke Karl Joseph,
54 his early death diverted her instead to the third son, who later became Emperor Leopold II.
59 In the course of 21 years, she bore her not-always-faithful husband 16 children, among them Emperor Franz II, and Archduke Karl the victor of Aspern. Grieving for her husband, she outlived him by only two months leaving many small children. Her 46-year old heart is in urn 24 in the
Herzgruft in the
Augustinerkirche and she is buried in tomb 114 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
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61 (Viscera of) Archduchess Maria
Karoline Leopoldine Franziska Theresia Josepha Medarde (Vienna 8 June 1794 - Vienna 16 March 1795)
→Family Tree Infant daughter of Emperor Franz II and Maria Theresia.
70 Her heart is in urn 25 in the
Herzgruft in the
Augustinerkirche and she is buried in tomb 95 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
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62 (Viscera of) Archduke
Alexander Leopold Johann Joseph (Poggio Imperiale 14 August 1772 - Laxenburg 12 July 1795)
→Family Tree Fourth son of Emperor Leopold II
59 and Empress Maria Ludovika.
60 Palatine of Hungary. Died at 23. His heart is in urn 26 in the
Herzgruft in the
Augustinerkirche and he is buried in tomb 64 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
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64 (Viscera of) Archduchess
Maria Amalia Josephe Johanna Katharina Theresia (Florence 15 October 1780 - Vienna 25 December 1798)
→Family Tree Daughter of Emperor Leopold II
59 and Empress Maria Ludovika.
60 Died at 18. Her heart is in urn 27 in the
Herzgruft in the
Augustinerkirche and she is buried in tomb 65 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
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78 (Viscera of) Archduke
Franz Karl (1802 - 1878)
→Family Tree Third son of Emperor Franz II. When his elder brother Emperor Ferdinand
77 abdicated in 1848, he stood aside so that his son, Emperor
Franz Joseph, could succeed to the throne instead. Great grandfather of the last reigning emperor, Emperor
Karl I. Aged 76 when he died, his viscera are the last interred here, and his heart was the last to be placed in the
Herzgruft in the
Augustinerkirche, where it occupies urn 54. He is buried in tomb 135 in the
Imperial Crypt in the
Kapuzinerkirche.
See also
References