On Labor Day, Joe and I decided to take a vacation from the labors of being parents, and went to visit a city called Wurzberg - without kids! We love traveling with our kids, really we do, but occasionally it is nice to have a break from the whining about seeing yet another church, or about how hungry and tired they are, or whatever else they find to complain about. Traveling is hard work ;)
We had been to Wurzberg once before, to visit the Christmas market, but that was only briefly, and it was at night, so we didn't see any of the city. I never get tired of seeing these different German cities. Each one has something unique to offer. Wurzberg did not disappoint.
First we saw three churches. My kids would have died ;)
First was the Marienkapelle (or Lady Chapel) from the 14th century, right in the Marktplatz (the yellow building to the right is a public library).
We always think it's so interesting to see the shops that are build right into
some of the churches themselves. Money changers anyone? ;)
This chapel doesn't have the most pleasant history. When the plague was going strong, around 1349, the people blamed the Jews and said they were poisoning the local wells. They went after the Jewish people with a vengeance, They murdered many of the Jews and burned down their synagogue. This chapel was built where the synagogue had been.
Then in 1945 the chapel was almost completely destroyed, as was about 80% of Wurzburg in the WWII bombings, and the chapel was rebuilt, using a lot of remains from the previous chapel.
The next church was, well, the cathedral (1040).
It was damaged very heavily in the bombings of 1945, and wasn't rebuilt/used again until 1967. The interior is....odd. It is mostly Romanesque, but has some Baroque and quite a bit of modern stuff thrown in there as well. I personally don't think it meshes well, but it was interesting.
The final church was Neumunster, right next to the cathedral, and also built in the 11th century.
This is a Romanesque Basilica, but served as the cathedral for 20+ years because it sustained less damage than the actual cathedral in the bombings.
I liked this one more than the cathedral, and they even had the cutest little courtyard outside.
I do love the churches, but we went to Wurzberg to see more than that, so we wandered over to the Main River.
We were surprised to find locks of love there. Tragically, we did not have a lock to leave there. I'm starting to think that I need to carry a lock in my purse from now own, must in case. But it's okay, because our love is still locked in Korea ;)
There is a great view there of the Fortress - Festung Marienberg - up on the hill. Built between the 16th and 18th centuries, it served as the home of the prince-bishops for 5 centuries, until the palace was built to "save money".
Alte Mainbrucke, or Saints Bridge, crosses the river here. I believe it was built in the 1400's.
All the statues of saints were added to the bridge in 1730.
This poor saint was given a pink goatee and codpiece by some dumb vandal.
Finally, we went and saw the palace, Wurzburg Residenz (built in the early 1700's) which we had been waiting for all day, because the English tour wasn't until 3 in the afternoon. We got there early, so we strolled around the outside and through the beautiful gardens first.
While in the gardens I kept thinking, "I'm in Europe, strolling through the gardens at a palace. How is this my life?! Somebody pinch me."
Then we got to go inside. Yay! It was gorgeous. We couldn't take pictures inside, but I grabbed some from the interwebs (Can I get sued for that? I'll link the pictures to the sites just in case). The grand staircase is GRAND! The fresco on the ceiling above it, painted by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, is the largest in the world
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| https://higherinquietude.wordpress.com/tag/wurzburg-residenz/ |
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| http://www.germany.travel/en/media-gallery/gallery-detail-wuerzburg-residenz-palace-and-court-gardens.html |
The White Hall - the stucco work was done by Antonio Bossi.
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| http://tomandellensvacation.blogspot.de/2012/06/june-8th-wurzburg-rothenburg-kitzingen.html |
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| http://www.architectural-holidays.com/venues/wurzburg-residenz/ |
And the Imperial Hall - a perfect combination of the work of Tiepolo and Bossi.
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| http://www.bradleywdick.com/wurzburg-residence-wurzburg/ |
We saw more than just this, but these three areas are considered masterpieces of Baroque/Rococo or Neoclassical architecture and art, and all three were miraculously spared from the bombings. The residenz was named a Unesco World Heritage sight in 1981. It was definitely worth the wait to see.
