Secession Building

Frommer's Review

Come here if for no other reason than to see Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze, a 30m-long (98-ft.) visual interpretation of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. This building -- a virtual art manifesto proclamation -- stands south of the Opernring, beside the Academy of Fine Arts. The Secession building was the home of the Viennese avant-garde, which extolled the glories of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau). A young group of painters and architects launched the Secessionist movement in 1897 in rebellion against the strict, conservative ideas of the official Academy of Fine Arts. Gustav Klimt was a leader of the movement, which defied the historicism favored by the Emperor Franz Joseph. The works of Kokoschka were featured here, as was the "barbarian" Paul Gauguin.

Today works by the Secessionist artists are on display in the Belvedere Palace, and the Secession Building is used for substantial contemporary exhibits. It was constructed in 1898 and is crowned by a dome once called "outrageous in its useless luxury." The empty dome -- covered in triumphal laurel leaves -- echoes that of the Karlskirche on the other side of Vienna.

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