The Viennese Secession Exhibition Pavilion, commonly called the Secession, was erected by Joseph Maria Olbrich between 1897 and 1898, and constitutes one of the most important buildings built in the Viennese Secession style or Viennese modernism "Modernism (art)") (locally called Jugendstil).

The construction was largely funded by the artists, while the Viennese city council offered the site free of charge, according to a private conversation between Josef Engelhart and mayor Karl Lueger. For the city, the construction of the building should have been accompanied by the regulation of the Vienna River and the renovation of the Karlsplatz&action=edit&redlink=1 "Karlsplatz (Vienna) (not yet drawn up)"), but the plan was not completed, and an avenue was finally opened between the Karlskirche "Church of St. Charles Borromeo (Vienna)") and the Secession Pavilion.

On a formal level, the Pavilion takes an element from the Karlskirche: the golden dome in the shape of leaves, made of gilded bronze, popularly called "the cabbage" (Krauthappel).

Under the dome, in golden letters, the motto of the Secession is read: "Der Zeit ihre Kunst, der Kunst ihre Freiheit" ('To every time its art, to art its freedom'), by the Jewish-Hungarian writer and art critic Ludwig Hevesi. To the left of the entrance is a second motto: «See Sacrum» ('Sacred Spring'), which expresses hope in a new flowering of art and was the title of a magazine of the Secession movement "See Sacrum (magazine)").

The building stands on eight-meter-deep cement columns, which sink into the Ottakringer stream, an underground stream that flows into the Vienna River not far from there.

Gustav Klimt, as president of the movement, was influential in tempering Olbrich's lush opening shots. His Beethoven Frieze (1902), initially a temporary creation for a Secession exhibition, is today permanently displayed on the ground floor. The bronze doors at the entrance were designed by Georg Klimt, Gustav's brother.

To the right of the building is a bronze statue of Mark Antony, the work of Arthur Strasser. The Roman general is shown in it as a lazy and decadent being, perhaps in reference to the atmosphere of Fin de siècle.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Secession Hall "commons:Category:Secession Hall (Austria)").