Heiligenkreuz -Mayerling -Baden bei Wien

"Stift Heiligenkreuz" means the Abbey of "Heiligenkreuz" (= "Holy Cross") in the Wienerwald. It is a very beautiful living Cistercian monastery. Stift Heiligenkreuz is situated very close to Vienna, it is only 15km to the west of the Capital of Austria, in the middle of the "Wienerwald". It is one of the most beautiful medieval monasteries of the world. In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI. visited the monastery, which is full with young vocations. In 1886 Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, only son of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Empress Elisabeth of Bavaria and heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown acquired the manor and transformed it into a hunting lodge. It was in this hunting lodge that, on January 30, 1889, he was found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera, apparently as a result of suicide. Exactly what happened is clouded in mystery. Baden is a spa town in the Austrian state of Lower Austria and the capital of the Baden district. Located about 26 kilometres south of Vienna, frequently the name is given as Baden bei Wien (Baden near Vienna).