The Capuchin Crypt

The crypt was used to bury the Capuchin brothers, noblemen and noblewomen and the Order’s benefactors. The combination of a special ventilation system and the geological composition of the ground beneath the church led to the natural mummification of the bodies.

Inside the walls of the crypt were about sixty windows that combined into several chimneys which in turn led out through the roof of the church and through which the air was able to circulate. By this very air circulation, the dead were gradually desiccated. At the end of the 18th century, the majority of the windows was walled up; until today, fourteen of them are left open. In the year 1784, this way of burial was prohibited by decree of the Emperor Joseph II. due to the risk of dispersing epidemics.

In the Capuchin crypt, 205 people were buried, of which 153 were Capuchin brothers. Until today, the basement of the church serves as the last resting-place for 41 of them. The bodies of the dead, which decomposed over the centuries, are buried in the brick tomb.

In 1925, the Capuchin crypt was made accessible to the public.