Belvedere
Baroque palace pair built for Prince Eugene, holding Austrian art from the Middle Ages to the present.
The Belvedere consists of two Baroque palaces set at either end of a terraced formal garden on rising ground south-east of the old city. Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt built them for Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Lower Belvedere as a garden residence completed in 1716 and the Upper Belvedere as a palace for receptions finished in about 1723. After the prince's death the complex passed to the Habsburgs, and from 1781 the imperial picture gallery was shown in the Upper Belvedere, making it one of Europe's earliest public museums.
The Upper Belvedere now displays Austrian art across eight centuries and holds the world's largest group of paintings by Gustav Klimt, including The Kiss and Judith. Works by Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka and the French Impressionists hang nearby, alongside medieval panels and Baroque sculpture. The Lower Belvedere and the adjoining Orangery are used for temporary exhibitions, while the Marble Hall of the Upper Belvedere saw the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in 1955.
Highlights
- Two Baroque palaces by Hildebrandt linked by a terraced garden
- World's largest collection of Gustav Klimt paintings, including The Kiss
- Marble Hall where the Austrian State Treaty was signed in 1955
- Lower Belvedere and Orangery used for temporary exhibitions
