Castles · Tour

Four Hundred and Thirty Works, and the Marble Hall Around Them

A group tour of the Upper Belvedere with skip-the-line entry and a guide who works in art history. The palace is on the UNESCO list, Baroque throughout, and some of the rooms are as much the point as what hangs in them: the Marble Hall above all, which was built to impress before a single painting was hung in it. The collection numbers 430 works, with van Gogh, Monet and Egon Schiele among the names, and the contemporary holdings have been assembled by the Austrian state since 1948, which is why the modern rooms read as a national account rather than a private taste. A guide is what makes 430 works legible in one visit: which to stop at, which to note in passing, and what connects them. The booking can be cancelled free of charge up to the start of the time slot.