Cathedral And Metropolitan Church Of Saint Stephen And All Saints, Vienna, Austria. (Part Ten).

English: 

Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of 

Saint Stephen and All Saints, Vienna, Austria.

Deutsch: 

Dom-und-Metropolitankirche zu 

Sankt Stephan und allen Heiligen, 

Wien, Österreich.

Photo: 8 October 2017.

Source: Own work.

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Share Alike 4.0 International licence.

Author: C.Stadler/Bwag

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Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia, unless stated otherwise.

When the Charnel House and eight Cemeteries abutting the Cathedral’s side and back walls closed, due to an outbreak of bubonic plague in 1735, the bones within them were moved to the catacombs below the Church. 

Burials directly in the catacombs occurred until 1783 when a new law forbade most burials within the City. The remains of over 11,000 persons are in the catacombs (which may be visited).

The basement of the Cathedral also hosts the Bishops, Provosts, and Ducal, Crypts. The most recent interment in the Bishop’s Crypt, completed in 1952 under the South Choir, was that of ninety-eight-year-old Cardinal Franz König in 2004.

Provosts of the Cathedral are buried in another Chamber. Other Members of the Cathedral Chapter are now buried in a special section at the Zentralfriedhof.

The Ducal Crypt located under the Chancel holds seventy-eight Bronze containers with the bodies, hearts, or viscera, of seventy-two Members of the Habsburg dynasty. 

Before his death in 1365, Duke Rudolf IV ordered the Crypt built for his remains in the new Cathedral he commissioned.

By 1754, the small rectangular Chamber was overcrowded with twelve sarcophagi and thirty-nine urns, so the area was expanded with an Oval Chamber added to the East End.

In 1956, the two Chambers were renovated and their contents rearranged. The sarcophagi of Duke Rudolf IV and his wife were placed upon a pedestal and the sixty-two urns containing organs were moved from the two rows of shelves around the new Chamber to Cabinets in the original one.

Organ Concert in Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Organs.

Saint Stephen’s Cathedral has a renowned Organ Tradition. The first Organ is mentioned in 1334.[13][14]

After the 1945 fire, Michael Kauffmann finished a large Electric Action Pipe Organ in 1960 with 125 Stops and four Manuals, financed with public donations.[15]

PART ELEVEN FOLLOWS.