Today's stop was the beautiful little German town of
Wurzburg, a city in the
Franconian region which lies on the northern tip of Bavaria and is located on the Main River.
One of the main attractions is the Wurzburg Residenz a vast complex commissioned by two brothers, Johann Philipp and Fredrich Karl von Schonborn. It was constructed between 1720 and 1744. The Residenz is famous for the famous Baroque staircase created by Balthasar Neumann, treppenhaus the largest fresco in the world which adorns the vault of the staircase (a truly overwhelming sight and stimulus for the senses showing representations of the continents of the world). This vast ceiling (5400 square feet) requires no supporting columns and was decorated by Italian, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Other important rooms are the Kaisersaal, the centrepiece of the palace, the emperor's chamber that testifies the close relationship between Wurzburg and the Holy Roman Empire.
Worth seeing was the old Main Bridge built 1473-1543 to replace a destroyed Romanesque Bridge. After 1600 the original wooden structure was replace with masonry and the 12 monumental saints were added a century later.
After our visit to the Rezidenz we toured the town seeing the bishop's town residence, the market place and the Dom or Cathedral with many interesting sculptures outside.
In the evening after dinner we had a glassblowing show with Karl a master glassblower from Wertheim in preparation for our trip to Wertheim the next day.
