The Founders' Vault
The Gründergruft is the oldest part of the Kaisergruft, dating from the original construction of the church (completed in 1632), and lies under the Emperor Chapel at the left of the nave of the church above. The room is low, plain, and windowless, and visible through baroque gates from Leopold’s Vault. Here stand the two plain sarcophagi of the founding couple.
Looking through the gate, from left to right:
- Emperor Matthias (1557–1619) Third son of Emperor Maximilian II.x527 Once governor of the Austrian Netherlands, he wrested power over Austria, Hungary and Moravia from his inept brother Emperor Rudolf IIx552 in 1608 and inherited the rest in 1612. He built the original hunting lodge that became Schönbrunn, and died only three months after his wife Empress Anna.1 His heart is buried in urn 2 in the Herzgruft in the Augustinerkirche. His intestines are buried in urn 18 in the Ducal Crypt of the Stephansdom.
- Empress Anna of Tyrol (4 October 1585 – 15 December 1618) Daughter of Ferdinand II, Duke of Tyrol and wife of her cousin Emperor Matthias2 who was 28 years older than she was. 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. Her heart is buried in urn 1 in the Herzgruft in the Augustinerkirche. Her intestines are buried in urn 17 in the Ducal Crypt of the Stephansdom.
Read more about this topic: Imperial Crypt Vaults
Famous quotes containing the word vault:
“Howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones!
Had I your tongues and eyes, I’d use them so
That heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone forever.
I know when one is dead and when one lives;
She’s dead as earth.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)