Secession Building
Secession Building features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Vienna. Give it roughly ~90 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type museum
- Suggested visit ~90 min
- Vienna Vienna guide
About Secession Building
A white Jugendstil temple crowned with a golden dome the locals call the Golden Cabbage. Its basement holds the restored original of Klimt's shimmering Beethoven Frieze.
The Secession Building is the exhibition hall of the Vienna Secession, a group of artists who broke from the conservative art establishment in 1897 under their first president, Gustav Klimt. Designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich and built in 1897 to 1898, it became a manifesto of Jugendstil architecture, crowned by an openwork dome of gilded laurel leaves that Viennese wits nicknamed the Golden Cabbage. Above the door runs the movement's motto: to every age its art, to art its freedom.
Its most famous holding is Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze, painted in 1902 for the fourteenth Secession exhibition as a homage to Beethoven. Around thirty-four metres long, it was conceived as a temporary work, later cut up and sold, then acquired by the Austrian state and restored. The version on permanent display since 1986 is the restored original, not a facsimile.
Did you know? The building's openwork dome of gilded laurel leaves so amused Viennese onlookers that they nicknamed it the “goldenes Krauthappel”, or Golden Cabbage, a mocking name that has stuck fondly ever since.
How long is a visit to Secession Building?
Set aside roughly ~90 min for Secession Building. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is Secession Building worth your time?
Secession Building is among the 35 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Vienna, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Vienna
Sources and further reading
Where to check the facts about Secession Building and read more:
Day 2 of the Vienna in 2 days itinerary →Day 3 of the Vienna in 3 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of Secession Building
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