!!!Kapuzinergruft

Kapuzinergruft (Imperial Burial Vault), the family vault of the  
Habsburg dynasty, below the Church of the  Capuchin Friars Minor, 
built from 1622 to 1632, founded by Anna, wife of Emperor  Matthias; 
Anna and Matthias were the first to be buried in the Imperial Vault in 
1633. Several extensions during the reign of  Leopold I (1657),  
Maria Theresia (1753) and Emperor  Franz Joseph (1908).

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Emperors throughout three centuries, without exception, are buried in 
the Imperial Vault; the urns containing the hearts of the emperors are 
in the Augustinian Church, while the urns with the entrails of the 
imperial family are in the catacombs of St Stephen´s 
Cathedral. The 103 metal coffins testify to the craftsmanship of the 
Viennese tin casters. The Late Baroque double sarcophagus of Emperor  
Franz I and Maria Theresia and several other sarcophagi were 
designed by B. F  Moll.

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Since the 1950s extensive restoration has been undertaken to halt the 
progressive decay of the sarcophagi through tin blight and surface 
corrosion. The Imperial Vault was greatly extended by establishing the 
New Vault below the monastery garden in 1960. - The last Habsburg to 
be buried in the Imperial Vault was Zita von Bourbon-Parma  in 1989.

!Literature
M. Hawlik-van de Water, Die Kapuzinergruft, 1987; 
W. J. Bandion and S. Goldberger, die Kaisergruft, 1990; G. 
Beutler, Fuehrer durch die Kaisergruft bei den PP Kapuzinern zu Wien, 
1998.


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