Secession Building

This white exhibition hall near the Naschmarkt was raised in 1898 by artists who broke away from the conservative academy to found the Vienna Secession. Crowned by a gilded dome of laurel leaves that locals nicknamed the golden cabbage, its stark geometric form was radical for its day. The motto of the movement is inscribed above the door. In the basement hangs Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze, a long allegorical mural created for a single exhibition and preserved in place. The building still hosts contemporary art shows.