[3] The tomb was commissioned by her husband Maximilian of Austria and their eldest child Philip the Fair, based on a rough design specified during her deathbed wishes.

Charles was killed at the Battle of Nancy in January 1477 while fighting against Louis XI, making her, at 19 years, the sole inheritor of the Duchy of Burgundy and the last of the House of Valois-Burgundy.

[8] Mary was falconing on a hunt with Maximilian and knights of the court in a forest outside Bruges when her horse tripped and threw her in a ditch before landing on top of her.

[9] Having sustained massive internal injures and a broken back, she died several weeks later on 27 March, having dictated a will and testament that outlined her wishes for a monument which she requested that she would be buried—according to an 1844 reproduction of the will—"honourably according to her station" and that a "large and beautiful" image of the Virgin was placed "before this sepulchre or sarcophagus.

[12] Eventually, he was able to purchase the marble from the stone merchant Martin de Bouge for 30 pounds[13] and hire a number of well-known designers and sculptors.

Records indicate that stonemasons were working on the monument before July 1493 when Renier van Thienen was contracted to oversee the initial build, however he may have been involved in its planning since 1491.

The tomb's long sides are heavily decorated with gilt-bronze branches of her family tree and hanging enamelled shields displaying the coats of arms of her ancestors.