German town’s prince-bishop was as proud of his wine as his fancy palace and chapel
Standing on Würzburg’s venerable central bridge — the second-oldest in Germany — I squint up at a statue of the town’s favorite saint, an Irish monk named Kilian. I wonder why he still has his head on. Kilian was one of three Irish missionary monks who dropped by in AD 686 to Christianize the local barbarians. Overreacting, inhospitable locals beheaded them. Later their relics were planted in the town’s church, putting Würzburg on the pilgrimage map.
The prince-bishop dominated the town. The late-Gothic Marienkapelle, the merchants’ answer to the prince-bishop’s cathedral, is pretty humble. Since Rome didn’t bankroll the place, it’s ringed with “swallow shops” — enabling the church to run little businesses. The prince-bishop’s palace in the center of town, known as the Residenz, is one of the most impressive royal palaces in all of Germany. While devastated by Second World War bombs, it has been painstakingly restored. This Franconian Versailles features grand rooms, 3-D art, and a massive fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
The sumptuous Hofkirche Chapel, adjacent to the palace, was for the exclusive use of the prince-bishop and his court. The decor and design are textbook Baroque — but architect Johann Balthasar Neumann was stuck working with the existing walls, which made it challenging to bring in light and create symmetry, which are essential to any Baroque work. He did it with mirrors and hidden windows. The chapel is slathered in real — if paper-thin — gold leaf. But the “marble columns” are marbled plaster.
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