Imperial Crypt

The burial vault of the Habsburgs, beneath the modest Capuchin Church on Neuer Markt, where around 150 members of the dynasty, emperors and empresses among them, are buried.

Empress Anna, wife of Emperor Matthias, founded the crypt and the Capuchin friary above it, and the couple's remains were the first to be brought here, in 1633. For almost four centuries the Capuchin friars have kept it, and they still do. The coffins trace the dynasty's changing self-image, from plain early caskets to the vast double sarcophagus of Maria Theresa and her husband Francis Stephen, crowned by the couple sitting up in bed as if waking at the Last Judgement. In the newer vaults lie Franz Joseph between Empress Elisabeth and their son Crown Prince Rudolf; the most recent burials include Empress Zita in 1989 and Otto von Habsburg in 2011.

Many Habsburgs were buried in three places: the body here, the heart in silver urns in the Augustinian Church and the entrails in the catacombs of St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Practical note: it is a short visit, about 30–45 minutes, and far less crowded than the palaces. It is a place of burial as well as a museum, so keep voices down. Tickets are sold at the crypt entrance. Context: Vienna's palaces and the Innere Stadt.