The Belvedere Palace is a Baroque palace complex. The complex, one of the largest Baroque palaces in the capital, consists of the two Belvedere palaces (Upper and Lower), now a museum, and a third, Schwarzenberg Palace, which has been converted into a hotel. The two main palaces are linked by gardens arranged on three levels representing various allegories.

It houses the Museum of Austrian Baroque Art, the Museum of Austrian Medieval Art and the Gallery of Austrian Art, which, among others, displays Gustav Klimt's famous work The Kiss.

As for its history, in 1697 Prince Eugene of Savoy acquired a large plot of land on the outskirts of Vienna in a then undeveloped area with the idea of building a summer palace with extensive gardens. The palace was built between 1714 and 1716 after the defeat of the Turks. Belvedere Palace was designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt. The palace is notable for its sumptuous reception rooms such as the Marble Gallery and the Golden Hall.

Later, between 1717 and 1726, the Belvedere Upstairs was built on an upper terrace with the idea of holding parties and thus increasing the prince's popularity. Highlights include the elegant Sala Terrena, the Prunkstiege, the sumptuous Marble Hall, and the various rooms richly decorated with stuccoes and frescoes. This is where Eugene of Savoy had his famous art collections and library.

The two palaces were linked by a symmetrical park, designed according to French and Italian models, with numerous sculptures and fountains. In addition, the Orangerie, glassed-in greenhouses for exotic plants, and the stables, where the prince's 14 most beautiful horses were housed and where today the medieval art collection is exhibited, were added.

After Prince Eugene's death, the palace was acquired by Empress Maria Theresa, who named it Belvedere because of the beautiful view of Vienna it offered.

The signing of the Austrian state treaty took place at the Belvedere on 15 May 1955, which meant independence for Austria after World War II and about ten years of Allied occupation.

The garden had an enclosed scenography formed by hedges trimmed, even during the construction of the Belvedere, in the French manner with gravel walks and jeux d'eau by the architect Dominique Girard, who had trained in the gardens of Versailles as a pupil of André Le Nôtre. Its large water basin in the upper parterre and the stairs and waterfalls populated by nymphs and goddesses linking the upper and lower parterres survive, but the patterned bed has long been overgrown with grass; it is currently being restored.