Mausoleum sights in Europe

1. A Map

   Cappelle Medicee

   • Florence, Italy
   • Sights › Mausoleum

   Nowhere is Medici conceit expressed so explicitly as in their mausoleum, the Medician Chapels. Sumptuously adorned with granite, the most precious marble, semiprecious stones and some of Michelangelo's most beautiful sculptures, it is the burial place of 49 members of the dynasty. Francesco I lies in the grandiose Cappella dei Principi (Princes' Chapel) alongside Ferdinando I and II and Cosimo I, II and III. Lorenzo il Magnifico is buried in the stark but graceful Sagrestia Nuova (New Sacristy), Michelangelo's first architectural work and showcase for three of his most haunting sculptures: Dawn and Dusk on the sarcophagus of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino; Night and Day on the…

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2. B Map

   Mausoleum of Ferdinand II

   • Graz, Austria
   • Sights › Mausoleum

   The mannerist-baroque Mausoleum of Ferdinand II was designed by Italian architect Pietro de Pomis and was begun in 1614; after Pomis’ death the mausoleum was completed by Pietro Valnegro, while Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach chipped in with the exuberant stuccowork and frescoes inside. Ferdinand (1578–1637), his wife and his son are interred in the crypt. The highlight is a red-marble sarcophagus of Ferdinand’s parents, Karl II (1540–90) and Maria of Bavaria (1551–1608). Only Maria occupies the sarcophagus – Karl II lies in the Benedictine Abbey in Seckau.

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3. C Map

   Fürstengruft

   • Weimar, Germany
   • Sights › Mausoleum

   Both Goethe and to a lesser extent Schiller (more about that soon) are interred at the Historischer Friedhof (Historical Cemetery) in the neoclassical mausoleum along with Duke Carl August. The neoclassical mausoleum dates from 1828 and houses almost 50 sarcophagi. Schiller’s, however, is empty today, after tests showed that his remains originated from several different people. He was a great writer, but no magician!

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