Citrus trees once filled Belvedere’s Orangerie with colour. Now international art exhibitions brighten the building.
- Originally built in the early 18th century
- Venue for some of Belvedere’s top-class temporary art exhibitions
- Part of the Lower Belvedere ticketed area
- See also:
- Book Lower Belvedere tickets* online
Quick Lower Belvedere tickets
(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
Exhibitions in the Orangerie
- The Joseph Rebell exhibition runs from June 15th to November 13th, 2022 (revealing the genius of one of Europe’s great 19th-century landscape painters)
Recent past exhibitions
- Dalí – Freud – the influence of the father of psychoanalysis on Dalí’s creative output.
- Into the Night – art and culture in the context of cabarets and clubs.
- Johanna Kandl – the stories and issues behind the materials used in works of art
- Talking Heads – modern works of art examining the human face as motif, set in the context of Messerschmidt’s character head busts from the 1700s)
The Orangerie itself
The long Orangery (German: Orangerie) outbuilding at the bottom of Belvedere’s privy garden was an architectural marvel when first completed in 1714. It could house citrus trees all year round, which is quite a feat in a country than can have 35° in summer and -15° in winter.
The roof and south-facing façade on the original building were both removable, so visitors in summer gained the impression of a natural orchard with the trees growing out of the ground.
If Prince Eugene’s house guests weren’t impressed by the Baroque majesty of Belvedere’s palaces, they could at least be suitably blown away by the botanical majesty of the host’s plants. (And if that failed, he also had a private zoo).
Inside today’s Orangery is a modern museum gallery showing a temporary art exhibition.
This means you won’t actually find any orange trees: little remains of the original interior, and the Orangery was rebuilt after the death of Prince Eugene, anyway.
But…there’s a windowed corridor running down one side of the building. Standing at the main entrance end of this corridor gives you views across the privy gardens and out to Upper Belvedere palace (unless the blinds are down).
If you don’t look too carefully left or right, that view pretty much takes you back to the 18th century: it’s just gardens and façades: no cars, satellite dishes or pylons to tear you back into the 21st century.
Which is also why you need to stand at the main entrance end to see the view. If you go a little further down the corridor, then the A1 telecommunication tower pops into view on the skyline (“intolerable” as Prince Eugene might have said, before dispatching a unit of cannon to bring down the eyesore).
For a nice view of the Orangery itself, simply go into the adjoining gardens, walk up to the first terrace and look back down.
Ticket & visitor tips
Any ticket* giving access to Lower Belvedere includes entrance to the temporary exhibition.
A glass corridor takes you from the end of one wing of the palace along to the Orangerie. You can also enter via the privy garden (which is itself only accessible, however, from inside Lower Belvedere).
(Should you wish to see a historical Orangerie with citrus trees still inside, then try the one at Schönbrunn Palace.)
How to get to the orangery
Follow the directions for Lower Belvedere.
Address: Rennweg 6, 1030 Vienna