FRANZ JOSEPH vault

‘Fight back as long as possible, do your duty to the very end, and if necessary, go down with honour.’

Emperor Franz Joseph

On the occasion of his 60th anniversary of his reign in 1908, Emperor Franz Joseph I. (N°142) had additional cellar rooms of the monastery incorporated into the crypt and commissioned the design of a chapel and a dignified mausoleum for himself, his wife Empress Elisabeth (N°143) and the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Rudolf (N°144).

After completion of the vault and the adjoining chapel, the coffins of Elisabeth and Rudolf, originally placed in the Ferdinand Vault, were transferred and an altar was erected again after almost 150 years.

Details about the vault

Details about the people

Franz Joseph Vault

Image of Franz Joseph on the marble pedestal

Ceiling fresco in the Franz Joseph Vault

Detail on Elisabeth's sarcophagus

View inside the Franz Joseph Vault

New Vault

Vault tour

Crypt chapel

Personalities

in the Franz Joseph Vault

N° 144

1889

Crown Prince Rudolf

*21.08.1858 Laxenburg - †30.01.1889 Mayerling

Only son of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth. Husband of Stephanie of Belgium, daughter of King Leopold II of Saxe-Coburg and Marie Henriette of Austria. Crown Prince Rudolf was pro-Hungarian and had a strong interest in science. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna and wrote critical political articles in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt newspaper. The crown prince died in the original Mayerling hunting lodge, which Emperor Franz Joseph I had converted into a Carmelite convent.

N° 143

1898

Empress Elisabeth 'Sisi' of Austria

*24.12.1837 Munich, Germany - †10.09.1898 Geneva, Switzerland

Daughter of Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, and Ludovika Wilhelmine of Bavaria, daughter of King Maximilian I. Wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Mother of Sophie, Gisela, Rudolf and Marie Valerie. Tradition depicts Elisabeth in Bavaria (‘Sisi’) as a sensitive, unconventional woman who suffered under the strict court protocol. She was a poet, an excellent horsewoman and undertook extensive travels. Elisabeth engaged in personal political activities to reconcile the Emperor with the Magyars (Compromise with Hungary in 1867). Elisabeth was assassinated in Geneva by the anarchist Luigi Lucheni.

N° 142

Detail from a photograph of Emperor Franz Joseph (1865–1906) by Hans Makart. Dated 1867.

1916

Emperor Franz Joseph I.

*18.08.1830 Vienna - †21.11.1916 Vienna

First son of Archduke Franz Karl and Archduchess Sophie Friederike of Bavaria. The grandson of Emperor Franz II.(I.) ascended to the throne at the age of 18 after the abdication of his uncle Emperor Ferdinands I. in the revolutionary year of 1848 and the renunciation of the throne by his father Archduke Franz Karl. Married to Elisabeth of Bavaria. He embodied the dignity of the imperial dynasty with unwavering loyalty and discipline. His 68-year reign and absolutist, centralist rule were supported by the army and the civil service.