DISCOVER WURZBURG, Bavaria

Wurzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located on the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Unterfranken. The regional dialect is Franconian.

Festung Marienberg, Wurzburg. Photo by Christian Horvat

Wurzburg is approximately 80 minutes train journey from Frankfurt, and almost an hour from Nuremberg. Distances to the nearest cities by motorway: Frankfurt 115 km, Nuremberg 115 km, Stuttgart 150 km, Kassel 215 km.

Wurzburg is mainly known as an administrative center. Its largest employers are the University of Wurzburg and the municipality. The largest private employer is world market leader Koenig & Bauer, a maker of printing machines.

The town is located on the intersection of the Autobahns A 3 and A 7. The city's main station is at the southern end of the Hanover-Wurzburg high-speed rail line and offers frequent InterCityExpress and InterCity connections to cities such as Frankfurt, Munich, Kassel, Hanover or Hamburg. It also is an important hub in the regional rail network.

The Main river flows into the Rhine and is connected to the Danube via the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. This makes it part of a trans-European waterway connecting the North Sea to the Black Sea.

HISTORY OF WURZBURG

By 1000 BC a Celtic fortification stood the site of the Fortress Marienberg. It was Christianized in 686 by the Irish missionary Kilian, and the city is first mentioned as Vurteburch in 704.

The first diocese was founded by St. Bonifatius in 742. He appointed the first bishop of Wurzburg, St. Burkhard. The bishops eventually created a duchy with its center in the city, which extended in the 12th century to Eastern Franconia. The city was the seat of several Imperial diets, including the one of 1180, in which Henry the Lion was banned from the Empire and his duchy was handed over to Otto of Wittelsbach.

The first church at the site of the cathedral was built as early as 788, and consecrated that same year by Charlemagne; the current building was constructed from 1040 to 1225 in Romanesque style. The University of Wurzburg was founded in 1402 and re-founded in 1582.

The citizens of the city revolted several times against the bishop-prince, until definitively defeated in 1400. Later, Wurzburg was a center of the German Peasants' War; the castle was besieged unsuccessfully. Notable prince-bishops include Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn (1573-1617) and members of the Schonborn family, who commissioned a great number of the monuments of today's city. In 1631, Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus invaded the town and destroyed the castle.

In 1720, the foundations of the Wurzburg Residence were laid. In 1814, the town became part of the Bavarian state and a new bishopric was created seven years later, as the former one had been secolarized in 1802. The city had passed to Bavaria in 1803, but two years later, in the course of the Napoleonic Wars, it became the seat of the short-lived Duchy of Wurzburg. Wurzburg was restored to Bavaria in 1814.

During World War II, a subcamp of Flossenburg concentration camp was located in the city. On March 16, 1945, 90% of the city was laid to ruins by a British air raid. Most of the main artistic highlights survived, while the baroque city center was severely damaged. During the next 20 years, the buildings of historical importance would be painstakingly re-constructed to the way they used to be before the bombing. The famous Wurzburg Residence which was damaged by fire during the bombing raid, has to this day a piece of the original architecture from 1945.

Since the end of the war, Wurzburg has been host to the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division, 1st Infantry Division and various other US military units who have maintained a presence in Germany. The local Wurzburg economy benefits greatly from the US military presence. However, these units are due to withdraw from Wurzburg after 2007 which may bring an end to over 60 years of US military stationing in Wurzburg.

ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE

Images of Wurzburg, Bavaria

Notable artists that lived in Wurzburg include poet Walther von der Vogelweide (12th and 13th cent.), philosopher Albertus Magnus and painter Mathias Grunewald.

Two artists who made a lasting impression were sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider (1460-1531), who was also mayor and participated in the Peasants' War, and Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753), baroque architect and builder of the Wurzburg Residence that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its interior was decorated by Giovanni Tiepolo and his son, Domenico.

Many of the city's "100 churches" survived intact with styles ranging from romanesque (Cathedral Saint Kilian), gothic (Marienkapelle), renaissance (Neubaukirche), baroque (Stift Haug Kirche) to modern (St Andreas).

Wurzburg hosts the Mainfranken Museum, with artifacts from prehistory until modern times, a Museum of the cathedral, galleries for ancient and modern art, and the "Kulturspeicher" from 2002. Notable festivals include the Afrika Fest in May, the Mozart Fest, in June/July and the Kiliani Volksfest in mid July.

HISTORIC BUILDINGS IN WURZBURG

• Wurzburg Residenz: The vast complex on the eastern edge of the town was commissioned by two prince-bishops, the brothers Johann Philip Franz and Friederich Karl von Schonborn.

Its construction between 1720 and 1744 was supervised by several architects, including Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt and Maximilian von Welsch. However, it is associated mainly with the name of Balthasar Neumann, the creator of its famous Baroque staircase. Its star sights are:

Hofkirche: The church interior is richly decorated with paintings,sculptures and stucco ornaments.The alters were paintings by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

Treppenhaus: The largest fresco in the world adorns the vault of the staircase by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

Kaisersaal: The centerpiece of the palace,emperor's chamber which testifies the close relationship between Wurzburg and the Holy Roman Empire.

• The Fortress Marienberg is the castle on a hill across the Old Main Bridge, overlooking the whole town area as well as the surrounding hills. Wurzburg's Old Main Bridge was built 1473-1543 to replace the destroyed Romanesque bridge. It was adorned with well-known statues of saints about 1730.

• Among Wurzburg's many notable churches are the Kappele, a small Baroque/Rococo chapel by Balthasar Neumann on a hill opposite to the fortress and the Dome (Cathedral of Saint Kilian). The baroque Schonborn Chapel, a side-chapel of the Dome has interior decoration made of (artificial) human bones and skulls.

Also in the Dome are two of Tilman Riemenschneider's most famous works, the tomb stones of Rudolf II von Scherenberg (1466-1495) and Lorenz von Bibra (1495-1519). Look for replicas of the statues of Adam and Eve by Riemenschneider at the entrance to Marienkapelle (on market square).

The Neumunster is a romanesque minster with a baroque facade and dome. Under the baroque churches in the inner city are Stift Haug, St. Michael, St.Stephan and St.Peter.

• The Julius Spital is a baroque hospital with a courtyard and a church built by the prince bishop Julius Echter. Its medieval wine cellar, together with those of the Wurzburg Residence and the Burgerspital are one place to taste the Frankenwein. With an area under cultivation of 1.68 square kilometres, the Julius Spital is the second largest winery in Germany.

• The Haus zum Falken next to the Marienkapelle with its splendid facade is an achievement of the Wurzburg rococo period and keeps a tourist office.

NOTABLE PEOPLE FROM WURZBURG

Philipp Franz von Siebold was among the first Westerners to visit and work in Japan (1823). Werner Heisenberg was born in Wurzburg in 1901.

Wilhelm Rontgen's original laboratory, where he discovered x-rays in 1895 is at the University of Wurzburg. The University granted Alexander Graham Bell an honorary Ph.D. for his pioneering scientific work.

Wurzburg is also the hometown of NBA superstar Dirk Nowitzki, field hockey player Bjorn Emmerling and footballer Frank Baumann. Also, Werner Heisenberg.

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