Sleeping Beauty

It's like the set for Der Rosenkavalier, though for a number of years only Austrian financially-minded civil servants have been able to see it. Prince Eugene of Savoy's Winterpalais on Himmelpfortgasse, right in the heart of Vienna, has recently been restored to considerable glory. To mark the 350th anniversary of Eugene's birth, the Belvedere has opened the palace to the public. Finally allowed to see beyond the decorated white façade on the narrow Innere Stadt street, the visitor is treated to a sweeping set of state rooms, covered with gold, silk wall hangings and giddy ceiling frescoes.

The palace opened to visitors on 18 October after an intensive six-year renovation project. The Finance Ministry has been moved on, having been at the site since 1848, and now the Belvedere has a new space in the centre of the city. In future these glorious rooms will be used for a variety of temporary exhibitions – 'the primary objective will be to create an artistic dialogue between cultural heritage and contemporary art' – while the rooms currently display material relating to its creator Prince Eugene.

Great battle murals attest to his militaristic achievements, while the elegantly stated luxury of each room speaks of his superb taste (as is already evident at the Belvedere itself, Prince Eugene's summer palace). From the dazzlingly white ceremonial staircase, held up by suitably homoerotic telamones, you enter the main state rooms through an antechamber, leading on to the Konferenzzimer and the Audienzzimer, with its Herculean ceiling frescoes and eye-popping chandelier.

Looking through the various rooms provides the most ravishing vista, as if lackeys were just about to disappear around the corner or plump the pillows on the statue-bedecked bed in the Paradeschlafzimmer (with its perfectly proportioned private chapel). Then comes the Goldkabinett, zinging with its freshly restored gilt, before you are treated to more scenes of military triumph in the rooms beyond. One can only hope that any exhibitions that are displayed here will remain unobtrusive, as it would be a great shame to change the spirit of this place so soon after it has awoken from over a century of sleep. Click here for more information.

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