cRypt chapel

‘With the people for the fatherland.’

Motto of Emperor Charles I, beatified on 3.10.2004

Together with his mausoleum, Emperor Franz Joseph commissioned the Crypt Chapel. Like the Franz Joseph Crypt, the memorial room was built in the Secessionist style.

It houses a memorial bust of the last Habsburg emperor, Charles I. (N°145), the coffin of his wife Empress Zita (N°146), who died in 1989, his son Carl Ludwig (N°148), his son Otto (N°150) and Otto's wife Regina of Saxe-Meiningen (N°151).

Details about the vault

Details about the people

Crypt Chapel

Altar in the Crypt Chapel

Sarcophagi of Zita and Carl Ludwig

Sarcophagus of Zita

Bust of Emperor Charles I.

Franz Joseph Vault

vault tour

the capuchins

Personalities

in the Crypt Chapel

N° 146

1989

Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma

*09.05.1892 Camaiore, Italy - †14.03.1989 Zizers, Switzerland

Daughter of Duke Robert of Bourbon-Parma and his second wife Maria Antonia of Braganza. Wife of Emperor Charles I. and last Empress of Austria. Her political commitment made her an indispensable advisor to Emperor Charles. Mother of eight children. The caring empress initiated the establishment of the world's first Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. After the emperor's exile and death in Madeira, Zita went with her children to Spain and Belgium. Hitler's seizure of power forced her and her family to flee across Europe and to the USA, where she worked tirelessly on aid campaigns for Austria and the Danube countries. From 1962 onwards, she lived in seclusion in the Zizers monastery in Switzerland, where she died at the age of 97.

N° 148

2007

Carl Ludwig

*10.03.1918 Baden near Vienna - †11.12.2007 Brussels, Belgium

Son of Emperor Charles I., the last Austrian emperor, and Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma. Husband of Princess Yolande de Ligne. Father of four children.

N° 151

2010

Regina of Saxe-Meiningen

*06.01.1925 Würzburg, Deutschland - †03.02.2010 Pöcking, Germany

Youngest daughter of Crown Prince Georg of Saxe-Meiningen and Klara-Marie, Countess of Korff. Wife of Otto Habsburg. Mother of seven children. Supreme Patroness of the Order of the Starry Cross.

N° 150

2011

Otto

*20.11.1912 Reichenau an der Rax - †04.07.2011 Pöcking, Germany

Son of Emperor Charles and Empress Zita. Husband of Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen. Father of seven children. Committed to working in exile for his homeland and against National Socialism and Communism. Christian politician, architect of a united Europe. Promoter of Eastern European integration while preserving self-determination. President of the International Paneuropean Union. Member of the European Parliament.

N° 149

2023

Yolande de Ligne

*06.05.1923 Madrid, Spain - †13.09.2023 Brüssel, Belgium

Daughter of Prince Eugène de Ligne and Princess Philippine de Noailles. Wife of Carl Ludwig. Mother of four children.