We had one more afternoon for sightseeing in Vienna, after driving north from our condo in Villach. There were so many tempting options! We chose the Belvedere to explore on June 20, 2025. The Belvedere is the baroque palace of the great Hapsburg military commander, Prince Eugene of Savoy, built in 1723. Queen Maria-Therese, the Hapsburg ruler whose influence we felt throughout Hungary and Austria, turned the palace into the Imperial Picture Gallery in 1777. It was Vienna's first public museum. I chose the Belvedere over the other multitude of interesting sites in Vienna because it has the most complete collection of Gustav Klimt paintings in the world. I love the flamboyance of Klimt's gold-encrusted paintings, and their emphasis on women and on lush garden landscapes.
The palace building itself is massive and ornate, with highly decorated towers and statues. The Upper Belvedere houses the permanent art collection.
This room in the Belvedere is the spot where the Allied Powers announced, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty. That treaty allowed Austria to become a sovereign nation, after the end of its post-war occupation by the US, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union. The treaty also required that Austria be a neutral state and banned Nazism in the country.
The most famous painting at the Belvedere is Klimpt's "The Kiss". A man and woman are so tightly wrapped together in a gold covering that they appear to be one person. It is passion in paint!
The Upper Belvedere also includes a number of other Klimt paintings.
The Lower Belvedere, another residential wing, houses temporary exhibitions. Its baroque galleries are also magnificent, filled with painted ceilings, marble, statues, and inlaid floors. Of course, baroque style feasts on excess. A minimalist would be horrified, but I loved it. As David says of me, "Gretta thinks more is more."
We were totally in luck. The Lower Belvedere was hosting a special exhibition on how Klimt's paintings were constructed, so we saw even more Klimt paintings borrowed from private collections and other museums. This painting, "Judith," is famous.
Klimt painted in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Vienna. The model for this unfinished painting was a Jewish woman who died in the Holocaust. The plight of Jews in Europe reappeared on our trip again and again, as we visited Hungary and Austria.
I love medieval art, which is obviously more plentiful in Europe than in the US. The Belvedere's permanent collection of medieval art was housed in the Lower Belvedere, along with temporary exhibits.
After all that heavy stuff, Dave and I needed some culinary relief. Viennese cafes are famous for their fancy cakes. I ordered a slice of sachertorte. I think Dave's pastry might have been a Mozartorte, or some such.
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