Belvedere, Vienna

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The Belvedere is consisted of two palaces, the Oberes (Upper) Palace and the Unteres (Lower) Palace. The Belvedere was completed in 1723 which now houses the Austrian Museum of Baroque Art (Lower) which displays Austrian art of the 18th century and the collection of 19th and 20th century art (Upper), most notably, "The Kiss", by Gustav Klimt.

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The upper Belvedere was built purely as a garden palace although it does have a fair bit of history. The 1955 treaty between Austria and its allies granting Austria its independency was signed in the central hall on the upper floor here. Nowdays, the palace houses a gallery of 19th and 20th century (mainly Austrian) art. There is an impressive number of Klimt and Schiele paintings and works in the collection.

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The lower Belvedere houses a collection of baroque art as well as a stunning room completely laced in gold leaf (see photo) aptly called the golden chamber and a two storey high marble hall. Back when Prince Eugene used to use the Belvedere as his summer residence, the lower Belvedere was the living quarters.

The orangery houses temporary exhibits. When I visited in May 2007 there was an excellent exhibition of garden paintings.

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...and huge buildings of course. Belvedere was the summer residence of the imperial family. It's separated into Upper and Lower Belvedere. Today those two places are museums which show the imperial treasures, statues, a lot of paintings. Behind upper Belvedere there is a huge garden with a lake in the middle and it's really nice for walk and relax. Usualy there are extra exhibitions next to Lower Belvedere.
My suggestion: make a walk in the gardens. They are impressive!

For me the best pictures in Vienna in Belvedere museum.Museum's itself also amazing.Don't miss to have the chance of seeing Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss".But never forget thay in Vienna,all museums are closing at 18.00 o'clock.

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This baroque palace was built for military strategist Prince Eugene of Savoy, who has a statue at the Heldenplatz at Hofburg. The last person to occupy the palace was Franz Ferdinand, whose assasination started WWI. Belvedere is now a the Austrian Gallery. The website at www.belvedere.at has a ton of information about the history as well as the gallery.

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The prince Eugene of Savoy who was also military commander had very big power and influence in the 17th and 18th century. He also had very good taste in art. Setting up these two things he could by the big art collection and also good place where to build new palace for him. From this place he could see almost all the city. Also nowadays from the upper palace you can catch good view to the city’s roofs and spires.
There are two palaces: the upper and lower. Why so? Because they are built on the hillside, one higher than other. And they are separated by huge French gardens. Their author have planed the gardens for Versailles, too. The gardens are dedicated to different symbols from antique world. And here you will also see many figures with lion’s body and people’s head. The upper palace was built for celebrations and presentations, but lower for living during summer. Nowadays they houses museums. If you’re Klimt lover than worth to see and go inside in the upper Belvedere!

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It reminds me alot of the massive castello in Milan ,even tho the Buildings of the Arsenal cover a much bigger Area. You have here an exhibition of Cannons , A museum , The military headquarters , in the back tanks and a military camp....I walked all around and it took me over half an hour. I even arrived at some sign that was saying "end of Vienna"
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