On the twelfth day of wedding festivities celebrating the union of Leopold and the infanta Maria Ludovica, the father of the groom and husband of the Habsburg queen of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, died of a heart attack. His widow, Maria Theresa converted the room where he died into a court chapel as a  consecrated memorial to her husband. In the years that followed, she repeatedly announced her intentions of resigning her post as regent and retiring to Innsbruck. The chapel, completed in 1766, is still used today as a prayer room by the Noblewomen’s Collegiate Foundation established by the the Empress , and once a year a mass is held there in honor of Francis.  The chapel is thought to have been designed by the Viennese court architect Nicholai Picassi. The altar features various Baroque motifs of death and sorrow. The group of alabaster sculptures represents the lamentation of Christ with Jesus’ mother Mary and two mourning women. The black marble altar table is in the style of a sarcophagus. Like the altar, the recently discovered wooden floorboards in the chapel, vestry, and antechamber are original to the palace. The organ was installed in 1857. It was built by Mathias Mauracher, the most prominent member of a well-known family of organ builders from the Austrian Ziller Valley. Maria Theresa is quoted as stating after the death of her husband that “even the sun appears to be black”. From that day until her death, she wore only black garments.

PHOTOS: Left Column: 1. A print depicting the death of Emperor Francis I. 2. Maria Theresa (1717-1780) as Founder of the Noblewomen’s Collegiate Foundation. Painting by Anton von Maron after 1765, oil on canvas.  Center, Top: Chapel, built by Maria Theresa in 1766, in the room where her husband, Francis I died. The chapel is still in use as a prayer room for the Noblewomen’s Collegiate Foundation, and a mass is held annually in honor of Francis I. Center, Bottom: Detail: Three Baroque sculptural figures in alabaster on at the altar of the chapel, the center one representing the Piéta, the other two representing grieving women. Right Column: 1. Death of Emperor Francis I, on the 12th day of the wedding festivities of his son, Leopold and  the infanta, Marie Ludovica. 2. Maria Theresa in mourning, upon the death of her husband of 29 years, said that “Even the sun was black”.