Würzburg: A Fortress, a Palace and an Old Bridge

In September 2021 we met up with friends in Würzburg, a city on the Main river in Franken (Franconia), the northern part of Bavaria. We were stationed in Wiesbaden, and they were stationed down near Stuttgart. We had known each other since our Fort Riley years, so we picked Würzburg as a halfway point and made a day of it.

Festung Marienberg

We started at the Festung (fortress) Marienberg, which watches over the city from a hill above the Main. People have fortified this hill since around 1000 BC. In the early 8th century the Franks built a chapel to the Virgin Mary here, which is where the name Marienberg comes from. From 1253 until 1719 the fortress was the home of Würzburg's Fürstbischöfe (prince-bishops). In 1631 Swedish forces under Gustavus Adolphus captured it during the Thirty Years' War, and on March 16, 1945, British incendiary bombs destroyed large parts of it. The rebuilding was not finished until 1990.

The overlook is a good place to stop and take it all in.

The views over the Main and the old town are worth the climb.

Inside the fortress there is also a formal Baroque garden with stairways and flower beds.

The Residenz

In the afternoon we walked to the Würzburger Residenz (Würzburg Residence), the palace the prince-bishops moved into when they left the fortress. It was commissioned by Prince-Bishop Philipp Franz von Schönborn and designed by Balthasar Neumann. Work began in 1719, and the foundation stone was laid on May 20, 1720. Inside, the grand staircase is covered by a ceiling fresco by the Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, which survived the bombing in 1945. UNESCO made the Residence a World Heritage Site in 1981.

The Hofgarten (court garden) behind the palace is free to enter and filled with clipped hedges, flower beds and rococo sculptures.

Lorilie in the garden.

We also stepped into a church with a bright white nave and a gilded altar.

The Alte Mainbrücke

We ended the day at the Alte Mainbrücke (Old Main Bridge), built between 1473 and 1543 to replace an older Romanesque bridge. Twelve statues were added around 1730, and on a warm evening it is a popular spot to sit with a glass of local wine. Across the river, the fortress sits above the vineyards as the light fades.

It was a great day with good friends, but we barely scratched the surface. There is a lot more to do in Würzburg, from more museums and churches to the wine culture all around the city, and we would happily go back for another visit.