About This Location
At this stop, Vienna feels quieter and more serious. Beneath the simple Capuchin Church on Neuer Markt lies the Kaisergruft, or Imperial Crypt - the burial place most closely linked to the Habsburg dynasty. From the street, almost nothing prepares you for what is below: a long underground story of power, faith, ceremony, and death. The crypt was planned in the early seventeenth century by Empress Anna and Emperor Matthias, and burials began here in 1633. Over time, the space was enlarged again and again, turning a private dynastic tomb into a vast burial complex that reflects about 400 years of Austrian and European history. Today, the remains of 150 members of the Habsburg family rest here, including 12 emperors and 19 empresses and queens. Some tombs are richly theatrical, covered with crowns, skulls, scrolls, and imperial symbols. Others are surprisingly plain. That contrast tells its own story - not every ruler wanted to be remembered in the same way. Among the most famous tombs is the magnificent double sarcophagus of Maria Theresa and her husband Franz Stephan of Lorraine, created by Balthasar Ferdinand Moll. Nearby lies the much simpler sarcophagus of their son Joseph II. The crypt also holds Franz Joseph, Empress Elisabeth - better known as Sisi - and Crown Prince Rudolf, names that still shape how many people imagine imperial Vienna. There is also a striking Habsburg funeral custom behind this place. For many family members, the body, heart, and entrails were buried separately in different churches in Vienna. Even in death, ritual mattered. The most recent burial in the crypt took place in 2023, and according to Vienna’s official tourism information, there is now no more space available. That makes this place feel less like a closed chapter and more like the final room in a dynasty’s long story.