| has gloss | eng: The Ducal Crypt is a mausoleum under the chancel of the Stephansdom in Vienna. It holds 78 containers with the bodies, hearts, or viscera of 72 members of the Habsburg dynasty. History Before his death at age 25 in 1365, Duke Rudolf IV had ordered a crypt to be built for his remains in the new cathedral he commissioned, and it has sheltered those remains for almost 650 years. He also ordered a cenotaph for himself to be placed upstairs above the crypt, in front of the high altar. That was later moved to the north choir and his epitaph written in secret symbols was placed on the wall of that choir. |
