June 22, 2023 - Germany
Wurzburg Residenz

Our main event today was visiting the Wurzburg Residenz.  We hit it when it opened at 10am.

From Rick Steves:  "In the early 18th century, Wurzburg's powerful prince-bishop decided to relocate from his hilltop residence at Marienberg, across trhe river, into new digs down in the city.  His opulent, custom-built, 360-room palace including chapel and garden -- a Franconian Versailles -- features grand rooms and a massive fresco by Biovanni Battista Tiepolo."

Out in the massive front courtyard sits the Fountain of Franconia.  "In 1814, the prince-bishop got the boot, and the region of Franconia was secularized and given to the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty.  This statue -- a gift from the townspeople to their then-new royal family -- turns its back to the palace and faces the town.  Its central figure celebrates the spirit of Franconia, and below her, the region's artistic and intellectual genius is represented by statues of three great hometown boys (the medieval bard Walther von der Vogelweide, the woodcarver Tilman Riemenschneider, and the Renaissance painter Matthias Grunewald)."  -- Rick Steves
   
Grunewald the painter.
   

TheWurzburg Residenz, seat of the Wurzburg prince-bishops until 1802, is one of the most important baroque palaces in Europe.  Baroque is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s.  It emphasizes dramatic, often strained effect and typified by bold, curving forms, elaborate ornamentation, and overall balance of disparate parts.  As we would see, the Residenz certainly qualifies.  The Residenz was built from 1720 to 1744 and the interior was completed in 1780.

Standing in front of the main entrance.
   
Close-up of the main entrance.
   
Just inside the main entrance doors was the vestibule.  On special occasions, they actually drove six-horse carriages in here to drop off their guests at the base of the stairs.
   
Also on the ground floor was the light and airy Garden Hall which connects the palace with the Court Garden.
   

Zohann Zick painted the frescoes in 1750.  On the ceiling is Banquet of the Gods with the Banishment of Saturn from Mount Olympus and Diana at Rest.
   
Now we head up the elegant Grand Staircase, built in 1743.
   
At the top of the stairs is "Europe's largest and grandest fresco".  The Venetian Giovanni Battista Tiepolo created the ceiling painting in only 14 months between 1752 and 1753.  At the time it was the largest ceiling fresco in the world and it still ranks as the artist's main work.
   
The ceiling fresco features Apollo (in the sunburst) and a host of Greek gods, all paying homage to the prince-bishop.  Ringing the room are the four continents -- America, Africa, Europe and Asia -- each symbolized by a woman on an animal and pointing to the prince-bishop.
   
To the left is Africa, sitting on a camel in a land of trade.  To the right is Asia, riding an elephant in the birthplace of Christianity and the alphabet.
   

At bottom is America, "desperately uncivilized -- who sits naked with feathers in her hair on an alligator among severed heads.  The black cloud hovering ominously above her head symbolizes (with great subtlety) how unenlightened Europeans of the time considered this savage continent to be."  -- Rick Steves  
 
   
Europe, who rides a bull, is shown as the center of high culture.
   
The White Hall, which functioned as a guard hall where the prince-bishop's life guards in parade uniforms kept watch when high-ranking guests were received.   There was lots of Rococo-stucco in this room.  (The word "Rococo" comes from the Portuguese word for the frilly rocaille shell).
   

One of the prince-bishops, no doubt.   Now is a good time to explain what a prince-bishop was.  Per Rick Steves:  "Around 1186, when Wurzburg was the seat of a bishop, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa came here to get the bishop's OK to annul his first marriage.  The bishop said 'No problem,' and the emperor thanked him by giving him secular rule of the entire region of Franconia.  From then on, the bishop was also a prince, and the prince-bishop of Wurzburg answered only to the Holy Roman Emperor."

However, in the early 1800s, Napoleon said, 'Enough of this nonsense' and secularized politics in places like Franconia.

Notice the red, ermine-trimmed cape the prince-bishop wears in all of the portraits.
   
An elaborate stove in the White Hall.  There's one in each room, all stoked from service hallways behind.
   
Another prince-bishop.
   
Next we moved into the magnificent Imperial Hall, which was decorated between 1749 and 1753.  It is the largest and most representative room in the Residenz and was used as a banqueting and reception hall.
   
The marble floor, stucco marble columns, gilding, sculptures, chandeliers, and in particular the ceiling with its rich stucco work and frescoes reflect the power and the wealth of the prince-bishop.
   
 
   
Another prince-bishop portrait.
   

It was good to be the prince-bishop!

There are quite a few 3-D tricks in the ceiling.
   
We started moving through the South Wing rooms which included the waiting room (antechamber), the audience chamber/throne room, and the Venetian Room (a bedroom).
 
This room featured a huge, vibrant tapestry celebrating Alexander the Great made in Belgian around 1700.
   
Elaborate chandelier featuring glass of different colors.
   
Another Alexander the Great tapestry.
   
The rooms became progressively more ornate until we came to the South Wing's climas: the Mirror Cabinet.
   
The Venetian Room which a bedroom.  A very nice bedroom.  The tapestries were made around 1740 in Wurzburg.
   

Probably the fanciest stove you're ever gonna see.  It could be tendered unobtrusively by servants from the other side of the wall.
   
The over-the-top Mirror Cabinet.  This amazing interior was completely destroyed by the bombing in 1945 but was reconstructed from 1979 to 1987 using the old techniques on the basis of preserved mirror fragments, photographs and a watercolor by George Denh.  The cabinet was originally decorated between 1740 and 1745.  Almost the entire wall surface is glazed.  A colorful  fantasy world of figures, animals, plants and ornamentation was created using a reverse glass painting technique.   The chandelier is from Murano, Venice and dates from before 1756.
   
This fancy furniture is original.
   
Incredible.
   

A good look at the Mirror Cabinet ceiling where individual mirror panels are inserted into the ceilingblending in with the colorful and elaborate stucco decoration.

 
   

On 16 March 1945, about 90% of the city was destroyed in 17 minutes by firebombing from 225 British Lancaster bombers during a World War II air raid. Würzburg became a target for its role as a traffic hub and to break the spirit of the population.  All of the city's churches, cathedrals, and other monuments were heavily damaged or destroyed. The city centre, which mostly dated from medieval times, was destroyed in a firestorm in which 5,000 people perished.  A few weeks later, on 3 April 1945, Würzburg was occupied by U.S. forces.

The Residenz is below left.  Most of the Residenz was gutted but a few key areas were not:  the Grand Staircase, the Garden Hall, the White Hall, the Imperial Hall and the Court Chapel.
   
Looking through the South Wing after the bombing.
   
Fragments of the Mirror Cabinet recovered from the bombing were invaluable for the restoration.
   
The small kingdoms of what is now Germany in 1808.
   
A golden chariot.
   

Next we toured the North Wing which consisted of lavish rooms where important guests stayed.

This is the Antechamber of the Northern Imperial Apartment, the first of a suite of eight room, also called the 'White Rooms'.  The tapestries were manufactured in Belgium around 1700 and show battles of Alexander the Great.
   
The Green Damask (Reception) Room.
   
The Napoleon Room.   Emperor Napoleon I and his wife Marie-Louise spent the night of 13/14 May 1812 in this room.  [I wonder if Napoleon was thinking about whether his forthcoming invasion of Russia was a good idea?  It was not, as it turned out.)
   
The rest of the Napoleon Room.
   
The Second Guest (or Tea) Room.  Notice the elaborate inlaid floor.
   
Saving the best for last in the North Wing is the magnificent Green Lacquered Room.  The unusual effect of this room is produced by the green lacquer applied as a glaze on a silver ground.  Painted on this green background, which contrasts attractively with the gilded-stucco work, are colorful scenes with putti -- a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and very often winged. --, clusters of blossoms and musical instruments.
   
Another look at the Green Lacquered Room.
   
And another.
   
The Green Laquered Room after 1945.  It took 32,000 hours to restore this room, from 1968 to 1974.  By comparison, it took 3,000 hours for me to build my kitplane.
   
The inlaid wooden floor with its three-dimensional effect.
   
At the north end of the Residenz is the Northern Oval Gallery Hall featuring 20 works from the Bavarian State Painting Collections, mostly 15th and 16th-century  Venetian Renaissance paintings.    This space was used as an opera theater back in 1770.  In 1830, it housed a children's carousel for Bavarian Crown Prince and later King, Ludwig I's kids.  Since 1930 it has beenused as an art gallery.
   
The Continence of Scipio (created 1735)
 
According to Livy, a beautiful virgin was given as 'war booty' to the Roman general Scipio Africanus, after New Carthage had been taken.  However, when Scipio heard that she was engaged to be married he returned her to her bridegroom , Allucius.  He also gave her the treasure that her parents had offered him for her freedom.  Nice guy.
   
What this area looked like after the 1945 bombing.
   
The Blue Antechamber.  Everything is silvered.  The room was used for games and entertainment.
   
 
   
A Belgium tapestry showing rural scenes hangs in the Yellow Audience Room.
   
Looking west outside a window at the Marienberg Fortress on the other side of the River Main.  Notice the grapevine-covered hill in front of the fortress; the grapes are used to make fine Stein Franconian wine.
   
The unbelievable Court Chapel, for the exclusive use of the prince-bishop and his court.  The interior is all Baroque; all the interial walls are curved although the exterior walls are straight.
   
 
   
 
   
There are 22 stucco marble pillars.
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
A good look at the ceiling paintings.
   
Then, we were out of the Residenz and into one of Germany's finest Baroque gardens.  Now we are in the South Garden.
   
I like the cone-shaped tree.  Very baroque!
   
Looking at the Residenz, south side, where the Court Chapel is.
   
Statue of Greek Gods.
   
Coming around to the East Garden, in back of the Residenz.
   
Grapevine arch.
   
Red roses.
   
Lots of red roses!
   
Behind me is the Garden Hall.
   
Looking at the north end.
   
 
   
Lynnette likes the Nursery Grounds.
   
 
   
 
   
Leaving Wurzburg, we headed for Beilstein.  On the way we stopped at the Bauhaus -- the German equivalent of Home Depot -- to buy a fan.
   
 
   
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