Ducal mausoleum (Coburg)
The ducal mausoleum is a burial place for the dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and their families. It is located on the area of the cemetery on Glockenberg in Coburg .
history
The Ducal Mausoleum was built between 1853-1858 by order of Duke Ernst II. , With the support of the royal houses of Britain and Belgium according to the plans of the Gotha city building advice Gustav Eberhard built for the ruling Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and their families. Duke Ernst II and his brother Albert each took on a third of the construction costs, Leopold of Belgium one sixth and the Koháry line probably the remaining sixth.
The inauguration of the ducal mausoleum took place on November 29, 1860. The sarcophagi of Duke Ernst I and his wife Luise were transferred from the crypt of the Coburg city church St. Moriz to the new grave. The mausoleum remains the property of the ducal family.
The ducal mausoleum in Coburg served as the burial place of the ruling family until the end of the monarchy in the dual duchy of Saxony-Coburg and Gotha in 1918. The last ruling duke, Carl Eduard , died in 1954 and was buried in the family cemetery that was newly laid out in 1944 in the forest of Callenberg Castle .
architecture
The towerless structure has the shape of a three-aisled Romanesque basilica. Inside, the mausoleum is designed as a two-storey crypt chapel with a square chapel as the central room in the middle of the building and a gallery on the upper floor. In the right (northern) corridor of the ground floor are the metal coffins of the Coburg parent company, while the left (southern) corridor of the first floor was reserved for members of the Saxon-Coburg and Gotha family from the English line.
Burials
The following family members are buried in the ducal mausoleum:
- Ground floor, north corridor:
- Duke Ernst I (1784–1844) - (son of Duke Franz von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld )
- Duchess Luise (1800–1831) - (1st wife of Duke Ernst I )
- Duchess Marie (1799–1860) - (2nd wife of Duke Ernst I )
- Duke Ernst II. (1818-1893) - (son of Duke Ernst I. )
- Duchess Alexandrine (1820–1904) - (wife of Duke Ernst II. )
- Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld-Koháry (1785-1851) - (son of Duke Franz von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld )
- Princess Marie Antonie (1797-1862) - (wife of Prince Ferdinand )
- Prince Leopold (1824-1884) - (son of Prince Ferdinand )
- Ground floor, south corridor:
- Duke Alfred (1844–1900) - (son of Queen Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha )
- Duchess Maria (1853–1920) - (wife of Duke Alfred )
- Hereditary Prince Alfred (1874–1899) - (son of Duke Alfred )
- Upper floor:
- Prince Ernst Alexander Konstantin von Württemberg (1807–1868) - (brother of Duchess Marie )
See also: Tombs of European Monarchs
Formerly in the mausoleum
Duke Alfred's daughter Victoria Melita (1876-1936) and her husband Grand Duke Kyrill Vladimirovich Romanov (1876-1938) were originally buried in the ducal mausoleum. In 1995 their sarcophagi were finally transferred to Saint Petersburg and buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral .
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 15 ′ 14.9 ″ N , 10 ° 58 ′ 13.7 ″ E