Würzburg, Germany

We had a great weekend exploring more of Germany.  Because the LDS temple in Frankfurt is closing for renovation soon we thought it would be a good idea to visit before it was too late.  The temple was beautiful, and the grounds were very nice.  We had a great session and glad we got the opportunity to be in such a beautiful place.

On our way back from the temple Jordan and I went to Würzburg.  The city of Würzburg was destroyed during World War II, but has since been rebuilt.  It is well worth a trip to see!

Our first stop was to St. Kilian's Cathedral.  The cathedral has many beautiful pieces of art: a menorah representing the Old Testament, tombstones of past prince-bishops, a crucified Christ, as well as a resurrected Christ riding a golden disc welcoming its viewers into a hopeful future.

    

We left the chapel through the side door, and entered into the street leading to the Market Square (Germans call it the Marktplatz). The square is bustling with people shopping, enjoying an afternoon pastry, and a cold glass of local white wine.

Fountain in the center of the marktplatz

At the end of the square and shopping area is the Old Main Bridge (Alte Mainbrücke).  This isn't the town's "main" bridge; but it is on the Main (pronounced mine) River. The Main bridge is the second-oldest bridgein Germany, and is lined with 12 statues of saints and prince-bishops of Würzburg.

From across the bridge you can see vineyard laced hills and the Marienberg fortress looming overhead.  The fortress was the residence of the prince-bishops before the opulent Resident was built.

The Fortress is rebuilt after being destroyed by the Swedish in the 17th-century

The view looking back on the city from the Old Main Bridge

The main attraction in Würzburg is too large to be missed, the Residenz Palace.  The palace was the home of the prince-bishops of Würzburg who once held both the political and spiritual power.  Jordan and I took a 45-minute tour of the main apartments of the palace for 15 euro.  We learned interesting history about the grand rooms, the 3-D art, and the large massive fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

Beautiful fountain at the front of the Residenz

The entryway of the Residenz is very big; large enough that it once was used as an indoor circular driveway for carriages with at least six horses.  At the top of the entryway stairs is a 7,000 sq ft Tiepolo Fresco. The ceiling features the four continents at the time: America, Africa, Asia and Europe.  Did you know that America was thought to be the least civilized continent?  In the painting Ms. American has a dark cloud of unenlightenment hovering over a her head while she rides an alligator.  Ms. America...sounds like a babe who knows how to party.

The ceiling illustrates the greatness of Europe, Wurzburg, and the Prince-Bishop

As you walk through the different halls and wings of the Residenz each room gets more lavish and detailed.  The frescos that decorate the sealing were made quickly because the material dried very fast.  One of our favorite rooms was the Green Lacquer Room.  We liked its silver-leafed walls and it had the coolest wooden inlaid floors.  The ceilings were so cool to look at, but after about an hour of looking up our necks were hurting!

The glorious imperial hall with 3-D art on the ceilings 

Amazing detail of the rooms

After exploring the inside of the Residenz living quarters we checked out the imperial chapel and the residenz gardens.  The imperial chapel was the exclusive chapel of the prince-bishop.  While the walls may look like marble, they aren't.  It is a manufactured marble made out of plaster, so that pigments could be added to create the perfect coloring.

The Residenz gardens were beautiful, and we walked through the three different sections: the French, the English and the Italian. The French section has statues of Greek Gods and carefully trimmed conical trees. The English section is like a local city park, and the Italian section, uses terraces to create the illusion of a spacious backdrop of Versailles.

Can you see all three types of parks?

We loved walking through the parks

We had a great day in Würzburg, and were amazed by what this mid-sized city had to offer in terms of sightseeing.