Belvedere Palace

The Belvedere is a historic building complex and art museum in Vienna, Austria. The complex consists of two Baroque palaces, the Upper and Lower Belvedere, together with the Orangery, the Palace Stables, and a formal Baroque garden. It is located in the city's third district, Landstraße, on the south-eastern edge of Vienna's historic centre. Built as the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the complex was designed principally by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt and completed in the early eighteenth century. Today the Belvedere is one of Austria's major art museums. The museum institution presents Austrian art from the Middle Ages to the present in an international context, with the Upper Belvedere housing the permanent collection, the Lower Belvedere used for special exhibitions, and Belvedere 21 devoted to contemporary Austrian and international art, film, and music. The Belvedere Palace and garden ensemble forms part of the Baroque heritage of the Historic Centre of Vienna, a World Heritage Site. The Belvedere was built during a period of extensive construction in Vienna, which was then the imperial capital and residence city of the Habsburg monarchy.