Day 7
Belvedere Palace & Vienna’s Cemetery
Belvedere Palace
We begin today at the Schloss Belvedere. This palace is modest in size, but it’s considered to be the finest Baroque palace in Europe. It was built for Prince Eugene of Savoy, who conquered the Turks in 1718. Today it houses a collection of 19th- and 20th-century art. Klimt’s The Kiss is perhaps its most famous work.
A monument to the liberators of Austria on Schwarzenbergplatz.
The Belvedere Palace, a Baroque palace with a view of Vienna.
A statue at Belevedere Palace, with its garden view of the Vienna skyline, still dominated by the cathedral's steeple.
Vienna’s Cemetery
After lunch at the excellent palace restaurant, we split from Mom and Dad and Suzanne and I went to the Zentralfriedhof, Vienna’s main cemetery. It is Europe’s largest with about 2.5 million souls. Because of Vienna’s rich musical tradition, you’ll find here all the famous composers of the last few hundred years. Mozart is about the only one missing—he was buried in an unmarked grave in another part of town. Otherwise, you’ll find almost everyone, from Beethoven to the 1980s, one-hit wonder Falco.
The cemetery is vast, and we already walked about a mile from the metro, but it was well worth it. The church is also an Art Nouveau treat, with a deep-blue dome with gold stars.
Suzanne at the Leafy Wall ion the way to the central cemetery.
Me at the Leafy Wall.
A tree-lined lane in Vienna's cemetery, Zentralfriedhof.
Johannes Brahms's grave in Vienna's Zentralfriedhof. One of the finest Romantic composers, he died in 1897.
The elaborate grave of Johann Strauss II, the waltz king, who died in 1899.
Franz Schubert is also buried in Vienna's Zentralfriedhof. He carried the Romatic style from Beethoven and was a prolific composer with over 600 songs. He died in 1828 at the age of 32.
The grave of Beethoven, who ushered in the Romantic movement in music. He died in 1827.
TInside the church at Vienna's cemetery.
The Art Nouveau dome inside the church at Zentralfriedhof, Vienna's central cemetery.