Imperial Crypt
The Emperor's Tomb, also known as Emperor's Tomb, is a burial place of the Habsburgs Habsburg- Lorraine and in Vienna. The tomb is located on the Neuer Markt under the Capuchin Church and is staffed by the same monks, the Capuchins.
- 3.1 multiple burial
- 3.2 inlet ceremony
History
Empress Anna founded in 1617 bequeathed the Capuchin monastery and ordered the construction of the tomb. A year later she died a year later her husband, Emperor Matthias. We started the construction of his successor, Ferdinand II (r. 1619-1637 ) in the year in 1622. Due to the Thirty Years' War lasted eleven years of construction. Upon completion in 1633, the coffins of Anna and Matthias were transferred to the tomb. Since then, the crypt was extended eight times.
Emperor Ferdinand III. (reigned 1637-1657 ) was the first contract for the expansion of the crypt. Thus he laid the foundation for the expansion of Imperial Crypt in a Erbbegräbnisstätte of Habsburg ( later Habsburg-Lothringen ) family. 1662 delivered Stonemasons Ambrose Ferrethi from Kaisersteinbruch for the founders and the Leopold crypt floor slabs and stairs steps smoothly polished stone Emperor.
In the years 1908/1909, named after his part was extended to mark the 60 year anniversary of emperor Franz Joseph I.. In his time, was also the lining of the down stairs leading from the Convent Ganges with white tiles; 1909 electric light was installed. The latest enlargement ( New Tomb ) was from 1960 to 1962 under the direction of Karl Schwanzer on behalf of the Republic of Austria.
Today, the Emperor's Tomb is the tomb for 12 emperors, 19 empresses and many other members of the Habsburg and Habsburg- Lorraine family. Artistic notable are Charles tomb ( created under Emperor Charles VI. Before 1720, designed by Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt) and the Maria Theresa Crypt ( 1758, designed by Jean Nicolas Jadot de Ville- Issey and Nicholas Pacassi ), in graceful rococo style is maintained. The large, late baroque double sarcophagus of Maria Theresia and Emperor Franz I. Stephan of Lorraine comes from Balthasar Ferdinand Moll and has already made in their lifetime.
As the only Protestant here in 1829 Archduchess Henriette, wife of the successful generals and emperors brother Archduke Charles was buried, who had their denomination not changed in their marriage into the family of Habsburg -Lorraine. This funeral had to be enforced by Emperor Franz I..
As the most recent funeral of Otto Habsburg, son of the last Emperor of Austria, and his wife died in 2010 Regina of Saxe- Meiningen was held on 16 July 2011. The last emperor himself, Charles I (reigned 1916-1918 ), is still on his last place of exile, Funchal, Madeira, buried.
The descendants of the last Austro-Hungarian Emperor and Empress are since 1970 in the Loreto chapel of the monastery of Muri in Aargau in Switzerland, not far from the castle of Habsburg, laid to rest. The monastery Muri was the burial of the Habsburg family by the Foundation through the progenitor Radbot of Habsburg until 1260th Since then, however, have taken place at the express request of the deceased more funerals of family members in the crypt chapel of the Capuchin Crypt.
Buried people
In the Imperial Crypt rest 138 people and four heart urns.
Not Habsburg
Under special circumstances, could persons who are members of the Habsburg ( Lorraine) family were not to be buried here. Charles III. Joseph of Lorraine, Prince-Bishop of Trier, died unexpectedly during a stay in Vienna 1715. He was initially buried in the Minoritenkirche and in 1716 transferred to the Imperial Crypt. His heart urn stands on the coffin.
The only non- Habsburg in the tomb is Countess Fuchs - Mollard, nanny of Empress Maria Theresa, the life very appreciated she and her husband and when they are often outdated advice. The inscription on the coffin lid is accordingly: " To the immortal remembrance of a benevolent grateful heart for the noble education to virtue. I, Maria Theresa. "
Field Marshal Radetzky, extremely popular and essential for the preservation of the rule of Emperor commander should, on request, 1858 Franz Joseph I find his final resting place here. However, Radetzky had a patron who had paid his debt, promised to be buried on the Mount of Heroes.
Not evenly matched spouses and their offspring was denied burial here: Therefore let Archduke Franz Ferdinand for his morganatic wife Sophie Duchess of Hohenberg, and build their three children in his castle Artstetten a tomb. The couple was buried in 1914 after the assassination in Sarajevo there.
Until 1940, the body of Napoleon Bonaparte Francis, only son of Napoleon and Archduchess Marie -Louise, in Austria was known as the Duke of Imperial City, in the Imperial Crypt. He was convicted on Hitler's orders in 1940 to Les Invalides in Paris.
Space reserve
According to the curator of the Capuchin Crypt, Father Gottfried Undesser, the sarcophagi in the crypt is in the current arrangement still room for another coffin. The decision on who is buried in the crypt, the responsibility of the Hapsburg family. Currently this room for the widow of Karl -Ludwig Habsburg-Lothringen is determined.
Founder crypt
Leopold crypt
Karl crypt
Maria Theresa Crypt
Francis' tomb
Ferdinand crypt
Tuscany - crypt
New tomb
Franz Joseph's Tomb
Crypt chapel
Funeral ceremonies
Multiple burial
At the funeral ceremony of the Habsburgs to the body, guts and heart to bury separated part. A few hours after death the body was dissected, heart and guts ( intestines ) were removed and the body was embalmed to slow the process of decay. This served, among other things, that the bodies survive the multi-day funeral ceremony and at the "Parade bed " could be presented as realistically as possible and reverent.
King Ferdinand IV (1633-1654) decreed that his " Hertz put Fawen Maria Loreto under your Füess and buried [ be ] unnser loved ones should ." Thus, the tradition was begun in the hearts silver vessels in the heart crypt of Loreto Chapel of St. Augustine's Church and the viscera in the catacombs of St. Stephen's Cathedral, to bury in the former Ducal Crypt. Heart and guts of Anna and Mathias and Ferdinand II had first been buried next to the Imperial Palace in the Queen Convent of the Poor Clares. However, when the monastery was dissolved by the reforms of Joseph II, they brought the heart also in the Loreto Chapel of St. Augustine's Church and St. Stephen's Cathedral in the intestines.
Some Habsburgs as Empress Eleonore Magdalene († 1720) and Isabella of Bourbon- Parma ( † 1763) could perform at the express request no dissection and embalming. End of the 19th century made a new method of preserving the Exenterierung the corpses unnecessary. Therefore, the Archduchess Maria Annunziata Sophie Friederike († 1872) and Empress Karoline Auguste forbade († 1871), († 1873), the separation of their body parts. The last Habsburg- Lorraine, in the 1878 a separate funeral was conducted in the traditional manner, was Archduke Franz Karl, the father of Franz Joseph I.
But there are other reasons to do so. The Last Emperor Charles I died in exile on Madeira and his heart is in the Loreto chapel of the monastery Muri ( Switzerland ), which is also where the family tomb of his descendants. A transfer of the body in the Capuchin crypt was considered later, but you did not want to offend the people of Madeira. His 1989 late wife Zita wanted to know buried her heart to her husband. The heart of her eldest son Otto died in 2011 was buried in the Benedictine Pannonhalma in Hungary. A ceremony in this country was important to him because he had a close connection to Hungary. Its buried in the Imperial Crypt wife Regina The heart is located, however, in the family vault of the House of Saxe -Meiningen on the Heldburg castle.
Inlet ceremony
In the course of time, a " inlet ceremony " developed in the tomb. Presumably, this derives from the assumption that an understanding of the companions funeral procession through knocking. In contemporary reports on the funeral of Joseph II is the three-time knock on the door at three times the reply, the words " The body of the illustrious Emperor Joseph the Second " on demand, who then desire inlet, handed down before this opened the coffin. The same is noted for the funeral of Napoleon Bonaparte Franz. Friedrich Hebbel noted in his diary in 1855 a quote Ludwig August Frankl of high Warts, which portrays a very similar ceremony shown below at the funeral of Francis I. of Austria - on this basis he writes the Domszene at Siegfried's funeral in his play Die Nibelungen. Since that time the ritual with the respective personal differences in text in this form: The funeral procession stops in front of the closed door of the tomb and a herald knocks on the door. Then one of the Capuchin brothers from inside asks: "Who wants to enter? " The Herald responds with all the lifetimes of / the deceased supported titles. From inside, however, is done the answer is " We do not know her / him!". Then the herald knocks again. Again, it is asked, "Who wants to enter? " This time the Herald responds with the short version of the title. But the answer is again "We do not know her / him!". The Herald knock a third time, again the same question is asked. Now called the Herald only the first name and adds " a mortal and sinful man " to, after which the gate is opened.
The ceremony was last performed at the funeral of Otto Habsburg on July 16, 2011. In this context, the Anklopfzeremonie by a representative of the Capuchins was referred to as a legend; the funeral protocols contained neither in nor Maria Theresa to Franz Joseph I. evidence. A spokeswoman for the Habsburg family said that " the rite was first performed in this form and with these words at the funeral of the Empress Zita. " Even for the period 1640-1740 can be found in the candidate primary literature about the ceremony in the Kaisergruft upon arrival of Konduktes no indication.
Conservation
Because of the high humidity in the tomb suffered mainly composed of tin and bronze sarcophagus under corrosion. They also feared the destructive effect of the tin pest. To preserve the sarcophagi from decay, extensive renovation work has been carried out since the 1950s and in 2003, air conditioning was installed. As a further precautionary measure the pomp sarcophagi are cleaned regularly as dust promotes corrosion and damage to protective coatings.