His younger brother, Emperor Leopold I, pursued a tradition imitating that distribution of remains, and also enlarged the Imperial Crypt to make it large enough for additional future burials.
The sarcophagi of Duke Rudolf IV3 and his wife4 were placed upon a pedestal and the 62 urns containing organs were moved from the two rows of shelves around the new section to cabinets in the original chamber.
Emperor Frederick III lay here for only 20 years after his death, until his magnificent tomb upstairs in the south choir was ready.
The greatest influx, other that the regular arrival of visceral urns, came as a result of the Austrian version of the Dissolution of the English Monasteries under Emperor Joseph II in 1782.
It is probably around this time that the body of Duke Albert VI was removed to make room for others, and that the body15 whose sarcophagus is inscribed with only the year and name of the parents arrived.
Stephansdom in
Vienna
, Austria, which houses the Ducal Crypt
Ducal Crypt
The Ducal Crypt (red letters) is one of several burial locations beneath Stephansdom. The bones of over 11,000 persons from cemeteries formerly around the church are stored in the Catacombs.
The old and new chambers of the crypt are adjacent, with a tunnel for daylight at the east (left) end, and stairs descending to the crypt's old chamber from the west.
In the Original Crypt, the urns and sarcophagi are shown in disarray in this 1739 engraving. The new chamber was added a dozen years later, connecting through the wall to the left. The cross arrangement engraved in the wall was moved to the new chamber.
The New Chamber, as shown in this 1758 engraving, is substantially how it looks today. The window behind the sarcophagus of Duke Rudolf IV has a long sill sloping to the ground above to provide light. The urns containing viscera have now been moved to the adjoining Original Chamber.
Emperor Matthias
is the first emperor whose viscera are deposited here. They were brought to the Ducal Crypt from their original resting place over 20 years later, after the testament of emperor-elect King Ferdinand IV of the Romans had set the precedent for honoring these three churches with the remains of the members of the Imperial Family.
