For a powerful and extremely significant experience, take a journey deep into the Imperial Crypt. Located in the Capuchin Church, the Imperial Crypt is the burial vault of three centuries of Hapsburgs. You will find in the Crypt the remains of 12 emperors, 17 empresses, and many archdukes.
Some of the important figures interred here are Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen, parents of Marie Antoinette. Napoleon and Marie-Louise's son was buried here after his death at age 21. Other important figures buried there are Emperor Franz Joseph, his wife Empress Elisabeth, and their son, Archduke Rudolf.
The Empress was assassinated in 1898; the Emperor was interred here in 1916, right before the Empire's collapse. However, only the bodies of these Imperial figures are found in the Crypt. Their hearts are in urns in the Loreto Chapel and their vital organs are enshrined in a crypt below St. Stephen's Cathedral.
The location of the Imperial Crypt, the Capuchin Church, is a church and monastery run by the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. The official name of the church is Church of Saint Mary of the Angels, but it is commonly known as the Capuchin Church.
The aisleless church contains the tombs of friar Marco d'Aviano and architect Donato Felice d'Allio. The church is used daily by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter for the celebration of the 1962 extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. The face of the Capuchin Church building was restored in 2016, making for a very powerful exterior.