Belvedere Gardens and Palaces, Vienna

The Upper Belvedere

For many of us, when we think of Vienna, the names that come most quickly to mind are Johann Strauss, the Waltz King, and Franz Josef, the Austro-Hungarian Emperor. And maybe Sigmund Freud.

Ornate? Monumental? Yes, those are good descriptions for the entranceway and its staturary!

Of course, there are more things and people to think of, but last month’s visit to Vienna stuck a new name up front for me: Prince Eugene of Savoy. Once we spent an afternoon strolling through the gardens of his Belvedere Palace (I should say palaces!) and a morning visiting his (and others’) art collections inside, it was hard to get him off our minds. Suddenly, every other museum or building we went to had some connection to him, every bit of history linked to him.

And he wasn’t even Austrian, it turns out. In one of those genealogies that read like a soap opera, his mother was an Italian niece of Cardinal Mazarin, the chief minister of France after Richelieu; she grew up with, and appears to have been a lover of, Louis XIV. Even that didn’t get the young prince what he wanted: to be an officer in the French army. Too puny, they said…and maybe because by that time his mother was out of favor with Louis.

So, he took himself off to Vienna, pledged his loyalty to the Habsburgs, and was accepted into the Austrian army. He was immensely successful as a general, playing a key role in defending Vienna from the Turks in 1683 and in taking lands to the east back from them, and in a list of other wars you can read about HERE. Between wars he negotiated, governed and otherwise served the Emperor, and was rewarded with rich lands in Hungary and elsewhere.

Prince Eugene (mounted) meets Duke of Marlborough after their victory at Blenheim

The income from those lands was enough to support a seriously rich lifestyle, and he embarked on building a home or two. First came a city residence, inside the city walls. Then, while it was still under construction, he bought land just outside the walls, sloping up a gentle hillside, and started the first of his baroque summer palaces. Over the next few years, as it was being built, Prince Eugene bought more land going up the hill, and started work on a second, even grander palace, at the top of the hill. The view from the top is truly “Belvedere,” today, as it was when painted by Canaletto in 1758.

Today, both palaces serve as art museums, and as museums of their own architecture. They also contain some furniture and other exhibits showing Eugene’s lavish lifestyle. Much of the art that started the collections came from his own compulsive and careful collection. After his death in 1736, the palaces were bought by the Habsburgs, although they never lived there. Instead, Maria Theresa, then the Empress, began moving her own “royal and imperial” art collection into the Upper Belvedere, and it is therefore claimed to be one of the oldest public art museums in Europe.

It’s also been the venue from time to time for important occasions and is still used often for ceremonies; some of the interior rooms are well-suited for formality, and it was in one of them that the Austrian State Treaty was signed in 1955, ending the Four-Power occupation of Austria, and binding it to be permanently neutral.

Yes, they do seem obsessed with sphinxes…

But that’s nothing compared to the night of April 17, 1770 when 16,000 guests attended a farewell ball at the Belvedere for the teen-aged daughter of Maria Theresa, leaving to become Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. After the French revolution, the Lower Belvedere served for a number of years as a residence for royal family members fleeing from France. After 1811, it was added to the museum space.

During World War II, both buildings had some serious damage, and reconstruction of some parts took several years. The entire complex is within the “Historic Center of Vienna” UNESCO World Heritage Site.