Maria Theresa Vault

‘Here will be a good place to rest’

Empress Maria Theresa after the completion of her mausoleum

Empress Maria Theresa after the completion of her mausoleum The Maria Theresa Vault is the most magnificent extension to the Capuchin Crypt. The Rococo-style mausoleum was built in 1753 to 1754 under the sacristy garden by the architects Jean Nicola Jadot de Ville-Issey and Nicolaus von Pacassi. The light-filled domed room was designed according to the specifications of Emperor Francis I. Stephen (N°56)and Empress Maria Theresias (N°55) and features a dome fresco by Josef Ignaz Mildorfer and a magnificent double sarcophagus by Balthazar Ferdinand Moll, on which the three-dimensional portraits of the imperial couple are enthroned facing each other.

Sixteen people found their final resting place in the Maria Theresa Vault: 15 Habsburgs – the imperial couple and those of their children who died before the Empress – as well as Countess Fuchs-Mollarth (N°41), Maria Theresa's governess.

Details about the crypt

Details about the people

In front of the magnificent double sarcophagus stands the simple ‘chest’ of Joseph II.

Genies guard and mourn the dead

Skull ornament in the base area

Relief depicting a historical scene

View of the sculptures on the lid of the double sarcophagus

The imperial couple on the lid of the double sarcophagus

Ceiling fresco by Josef Ignaz Mildorfer

Full-body sculpture of little Maria Theresa, the beloved child of Emperor Joseph II.

Flower detail on the sarcophagus of Maria Elisabeth

KARL VAULT

tour Vault

FRANZ Vault

Personalities

in the Maria Theresa Vault

N° 55

1780

Empress Maria Theresa

*13.05.1717 Vienna - †29.11.1780 Vienna

Daughter of Emperor Charles VI. and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Wife of Francis I. Stephen of Lorraine. Founder of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Crowned Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. Mother of 16 children (5 sons and 11 daughters). She managed the affairs of government and initiated many reforms (e.g. compulsory schooling, abolition of torture) and ruled with insight into human nature and determination. As the ‘mother-in-law of Europe’, she married her children throughout Europe for the benefit of the state. At the end of her life, she prepared herself carefully and courageously for death and died remarkably calmly, after 40 years of reign, at the age of 63.