The Belvedere was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy, who chose Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt over Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. The style is Baroque. Construction of the Lower Belvedere had begun by 1712. The Upper Belvedere was begun in the late 1710s and completed in 1723. Four Atlas pillars support the vaulted ceiling of the Sala Terrena, installed in the winter of 1732 and 1733.
Dominique Girard, trained at Versailles, laid out the gardens in the formal French manner. Maria Theresa acquired the complex in 1752. In 1896 Franz Joseph I made the Upper Belvedere the residence of the heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who had it remodeled.
The Austrian State Treaty was signed at the Upper Belvedere on May 15, 1955, re-establishing Austria as an independent state. The museum holds an important Klimt collection, including The Kiss, and runs three venues: the Upper Belvedere, the Lower Belvedere and Belvedere 21.
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