‘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.
Personalities
in the Franz Joseph Vault