1712 – 23: Constructionof the Upper and LowerBelvedere as thesummer residence ofPrince Eugene of Savoy.
1712
21 April, Prince Eugene of Savoydies at his town palace. As heleaves no legally valid will, anImperial commission names hisniece, Princess Victoria, as his heir.
The Imperial Collection is trans-ferred to the newly establishedKunsthistorisches Museum;neither Belvedere Palace isused for museum purposes.
1888/89
The Moderne Galerie at theLower Belvedere opens as astate-owned museum andcounterpart of the ImperialCollection. The intention be-hind its founding is the pre-sentation of Austrian art inan international context. Thismission still stands today. In1908, acquisition of GustavKlimt’s The Kiss (Lovers).
Die Moderne Galerie im Unteren Belvedere (Groteskensaal), um 1930, Fotografie, ÖNB
1903
Bombing during theSecond World Warseriously damages thepalaces. Reconstructionbegins in 1945. In 1953the museum reopens atthe Upper Belvedere asthe Austrian Gallery.
On 15 May 1955 theAustrian StateTreaty is signed atthe Upper Belvedere– “Austria is free!”
1955
Originally designed
for the 1958 BrusselsWorld Expo, the pavil-ion is reassembled inVienna and remodelledas a museum. In 2011 itopens as a museum ofcontemporary art, nownamed Belvedere 21.
In 2018 redisplay of thepermanent collection atthe Upper Belvedere.World-famous paintingsby Gustav Klimt and othermasterworks are placed inan historical context.