Hearts Crypt
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The Hearts Crypt

54 Hapsburg hearts

It all begins with King Ferdinand IV of the Romans, who specifies in his will that his heart should be dedicated to Mary, Mother of God after his death.

When Ferdinand dies in 1654 his embalmed body is interred in the Capuchin Crypt but his heart is buried underneath the Loreto Chapel of the Augustinian Church in Vienna. A Loreto chapel is a copy of the famous basilisk at Loreto, Italy dedicated to worship of Mary, Mother of God.

Initially the Loreto Chapel is located in the central aisle of the Augustinian Church. But when Emperor Joseph II has the church ‘regothicised’ in 1784 it has to be moved. The entrance to the Loreto Chapel has been in the southeast corner of the right-hand aisle ever since.

King Ferdinand IV starts a tradition which is continued by the Hapsburg family until the end of the 19th century. There are 54 hearts here, included that of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Emperor Francis I and his wife and regent Maria Theresa. The last heart to be interred here is that of Archduke Franz Karl in 1878.

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