Their obsession of a "schöne Leiche" (a beautiful corpse) prompted them to save money to ensure their send off was as grand as possible.

In Vienna in the 1900s more than eighty private funeral companies competed for the business of burying the city's citizens in one of the 52 cemeteries in the suburban area.

[1] A real curiosity on display in the Bestattungsmuseum is the re-usable coffin instigated in 1784 by Emperor Joseph II, in an attempt to save wood and to hasten decomposition.

[2] Another curiosity is a device whereby a cord; attached to the hand of the deceased would ring a bell above ground to prevent premature burial, just in case the person wasn't really dead.

To this day, the city's hospital is still occasionally instructed to administer a lethal injection after death to avoid premature burial.