"Justice is the foundation of kingdoms."
Maxim of Emperor Francis II.(I.)
After the Congress of Vienna in 1824, Emperor Francis II (I) decided to expand the imperial burial site once again, as there was no room for him or his descendants in the Capuchin Crypt. The emperor commissioned the construction of a new burial chamber, modelled on the Maria Theresa Vault and at right angles to it. The Franz Crypt is octagonal and designed in the Biedermeier style Emperor Francis II.(I.) (N°57) and his four wives rest here in a symmetrical arrangement of sarcophagi.
Originally, 11 people were buried in the Franz Vault, including Empress Maria Ludovica, known as Marie Louise (N°127), Napoleon's second wife, who now rests in the New Crypt, and her son, Joseph Karl Franz (Napoleon II), Duke of Reichstadt, whose coffin was transferred to Paris in 1940.
Personalities
in the Franz Vault