Würzburg - Residence

Since the early Middle Ages, the seat of the prince-bishops has been located in Marienburg Castle, which is situated high above the city on the left bank of the Main. A stone bridge across the Main, built as early as the 12th century, connects the residence with the settlement on the right bank of the Main.

Its medieval pentagon-shaped layout, with the bishop's church in the centre, can still be read on the town plan, is defined by the town walls and moats and forms the centre of an enlarged Baroque town enclosed by fortifications. The Baroque bastions and ramparts were built after the Thirty Years' War by Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp von Schönborn. However, the Prince-Bishop still resided in Marienburg and had additional accommodation in the town itself. The cost of this double court residence was a thorn in the side of the cathedral chapter.

Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads (1652-1719) therefore built a "small castle on the Rennweg" on the site of the present residence in 1700-1705. The new building was flanked on the north and south by two courtyard buildings enclosing the square. The northern one, the Rosenbachsche Hof, is still standing today.

In 1719, Philipp Franz von Schönborn (1673-1724), nephew of the powerful Elector and Archbishop of Mainz, Lothar Franz von Schönborn, was elected the new Prince-Bishop of Würzburg.
After his election, he showed active and passive bribery to the supporters of the late prince-bishop Johann Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads, especially to the court chamberlain Jacob von Hohlach. They must repay 640,000 guilders within six months to avoid conviction. This amount is equivalent to the annual income of the diocese of Würzburg.

With this money, a residence of princely proportions was built on the site of the "Schlösschen am Rennweg" in 1720. The construction and planning immediately became a Schönborn family affair. The planning was undertaken by his uncle, Elector Lothar Franz, and his brother, the Imperial Vice-Chancellor Friedrich Carl von Schönborn, who was based in Vienna.

The first preliminary design with two instead of four inner courtyards is attributed to Balthasar Neumann, who was involved in the Baroque urban transformation of Würzburg. But Lothar Franz von Schönborn entrusted the planning to Maximilian von Welsch and Philipp Christoph Reichsfreiherr von Erthal, both of whom were active at the court of Mainz. In February 1720, they submitted their first proposal to the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, which corresponds conceptually and locally to the present project.

Friedrich Carl von Schönborn discussed the plans in Vienna with his confidant, the imperial court engineer Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. After corrections in Vienna, the project was expanded to its present dimensions by Maximilian von Welsch, who had in the meantime been contracted to do the planning. Construction began in 1720.

Johann Dientzenhofer, the designer of the interior of the Banz Monastery and the Weissenstein Palace, was appointed as the builder.

The Prince-Bishop moved to the Rosenbachsche Hof so that he could monitor the construction work on site. For the time being, Balthasar Neumann was only involved in the planning in terms of the urban concept.

In 1723 the Prince-Bishop sent Balthasaar Neumann to Paris to discuss the existing plans for the residence with the royal architects Robert de Cotte and Germain Boffrand. Neumann returns with new proposals. Although Boffrand also came to Würzburg in person in 1724, the influence of the French architects is only evident in the cour d'honneur and the staircase.

The first phase of the construction of the Würzburg residence was brought to an end by the unexpected death of Prince-Bishop Philipp Franz von Schönborn in August 1724.

The design of the Würzburg residence in the first phase up to 1724 was the result of collective planning involving three architecturally interested and trained members of the princely Schönborn family, who regarded their designers at most as suppliers of ideas and always took the best from each. These were undoubtedly the Mohican designers Maximilian von Welsch and Philipp Christoph von Erthal.
Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt was involved in the planning in the background, although he managed to push through the lower mezzanine and the details of the façade structure. The Frenchmen Robert de Cotte and Germain Boffrand laid the foundations of the grand staircase in 1723. Balthasar Neumann drew up designs early in the planning process, but none of them received any attention. It was only from the time of the Paris road (1723) that he could be identified as a co-author of the project and now also as the sole builder. Johann Dientzenhofer was demonstrably in charge of the actual construction between 1720 and 1723, but his role in the planning has not yet been explored.

Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn was succeeded by Prince-Bishop Christoph Franz von Hutten (1673-1729). Although the new Prince-Bishop had the western part of the northern block completed and wanted to extend it into a bishop's residence, he put further planning on hold. Balthasar Neumann remained the construction manager and the architect Maximilian von Welsch remained involved.

Prince-Bishop von Hutten died in 1729 and did not have time to move into the new bishop's residence. Just a few months before him, the Grand Elector and Archchancellor Lothar Franz von Schönborn, Archbishop of Mainz and Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, had also died. His nephew, Archchancellor Friedrich Carl von Schönborn of Vienna (1674-1746), who had already succeeded him in Bamberg, was also elected Prince-Bishop of Würzburg in 1729.

Immediately after his election in Würzburg, Friedrich Carl von Schönborn undertook the family's project for a new residence. In 1729 he moved into the completed northern block, dismissed Maximilian von Welsch and called in his Viennese architect Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt as designer for the completion of the new residence. Balthasar Neumann was only a second planner alongside the great Viennese builder, but he was called upon to make all decisions and, as construction manager, was the most important coordinator of the planning of the residence.

However, all the plans of the now continuing floor plans, sections, the court church and its furnishings, the garden front and the court of honour came from Hildebrandt's office. Around 1741 the residence was already under roof.

The indomitable engineering talent of Balthasar Neumann was evident in the construction of the vaults, as evidenced by the staircase without columns and the 19-metre-long trough vault. Neumann was also the author of the "imperial staircase". This starts with one arm on the ground floor as a two-arm shaft staircase and splits into two arms running in opposite directions as usual on a revolving landing. The complete exposure of the central staircase niche in the large stair hall of the main floor is ingenious.

Work on the interior began in 1735. The court painter Johann Rudolf Byss became the most important artistic director until 1738, fresco painter of the court church, creator of the Venetian Room and initiator of the Mirror Cabinet. The stucco decoration of the great halls (White, Imperial, Court Church, Piano Nobile, Bishop's Suite) was executed in 1735-1753 by the stucco artist Giuseppe Antonio Bossi. The authors of the sculptures were von der Auver's father and sons.
When Prince-Bishop Friedrich Carl von Schönborn died in 1746, the residence was almost complete. The completion of the entrance hall, the staircase and the imperial hall had just begun. Work is also still in progress on the northern parade rooms of the garden front.

The secularly educated art lover and patron Schönborn was replaced in 1746 by Anselm Franz von Ingelheim (1683-1749), a prince-bishop without much interest in art, and immediately dismissed Balthasar Neumann. The Prince-Bishop died in 1749.

In 1749 Carl Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads was elected prince-bishop. Immediately after taking over the government, he rehired Balthasar Neumann and began working with the artists of the Schönborn government, the plasterer Antonio Giuseppe Bossi and the sculptor Johann Wolfgang von der Auvera, to continue work on the staircase and entrance hall, the Garden Hall and the Imperial Hall. Johann Georg Oegg can now also complete the gate and the Courtyard of Honour. In 1749 Greiffenclau contracted the Swabian painter Johann Zick for the ceiling frescoes of the Garden Hall.

For the frescoes of the Imperial Hall he engaged the Prince-Bishop Giambattista Tiepolo and his sons Domenico and Lorenzo of Venice, which were painted between April and July 1751. In the winter, father and son Tiepolo completed the altarpieces for the court church and for the abbey church in Münsterschwarzach. In 1752, the Prince-Bishop also commissioned Tiepolo to paint the ceiling of the staircase at a cost of 12,000 guilders. He painted a huge fresco of 677 square metres with the theme of tributes to the continents in the summers of 1752 and 1753. In addition to the prince-bishop, the fresco immortalizes the masters who participated in the work. Here we find Balthasar Neumann, the stucco artist Giuseppe Antonio Bossi, the gilder Franz Ignaz Roth and, of course, Tiepolo and his son. Tiepolo passed away in November 1753.

After the death of the Prince-Bishop Carl Philipp von Greiffenclau in 1754, the residence was completed in Rococo style.

The Court of Honour is separated from the Residenzplatz by a border, highlighted with obelisks and sculptures and decorated with rococo fittings. Today, the cour d'honneur is open towards the Residenzplatz and the square itself is almost entirely taken over by stationary car traffic and the main thoroughfare. The courtyard gardens have been spared this fate. On the east and south of the Residenz they still show the form designed by the court gardener Johann Prokop Mayer 1770-1779 under the Prince-Bishop Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim. The design, which is still in keeping with French Baroque garden culture, can be explained by the preliminary plans already drawn up by Maximilian von Welsch, which also owe their strict symmetry to the Baroque ramparts that form the boundary to the east. Their incorporation as garden terraces and walled promenade has never changed since their design by the court gardener Mayer. Only for the last south-western part of the Residenzgarten, the section along the Obere Promenade south of the Gesandtenbau, was an 'English' design chosen in 1790.

Despite partial interventions and alterations in the French Empire style, the residence remained essentially in the same form during the 19th century.

It was not until the modern era that the most significant intervention was made. On 16 March 1945, 90% of the city of Würzburg was destroyed by a hail of bombs in 17 minutes, and the residence was not spared by the firestorm. Only the Neumann vaults above the Kaisersaal, the Weisser Saal, the staircase and the Hofkirche withstood the inferno of flames.

The temporary roofing of the vaults with Tiepolo's frescoes was provided by the American officer John Davis Skilton in the autumn of 1945. The vaults of the court church did not receive this protection until later, so that the stucco and frescoes were subsequently destroyed here as well. In 1947, after all the emergency roofs had been built, work could begin on the emergency protection of the frescoes and stuccoes.

In 1960, the exterior of the residence was restored. The subsequent restoration and reconstruction work on the interior lasted 27 years. In 1987, the restoration of the most important rooms of the residence was completed with the reconstruction of the Mirror Cabinet.

Balthasar Neumann

With a brief three-year break during the reign of Prince-Bishop Anselm Franz von Ingelheim, when Balthasar Neumann was dismissed from the building, he continued to work on the residence as a building supervisor until his death in 1753. This is his life's work.

Nevertheless, the designation of Balthasar Neumann as the main architect of the Würzburg residence is not entirely appropriate. Rather, it is the collective work of the architects Maximilian von Welsch, Philipp Christoph von Erthal, Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt and, in particular, Balthasar Neumann.

Johann Dientzenhofer

The role of Johann Dientzenhofer is demonstrably linked to the management of the building between 1720 and 1723.

The residence was built on a base slab measuring 92 by 167 metres. The main building consists of a central wing with two side wings, a north and south block, each with two internal courtyards. On the city side, the side wings extend 55 metres from the main building and partially enclose the court of honour. Under the mansard roof is a cornice, decorated with vases and trophies.

The façade around the main portal of the Cour d'honneur is particularly ornate. There is no lower mezzanine, but there is a large balcony above the three portals accessible from the White Hall (Weisser Saal). Above the entrance is a large coat of arms of Friedrich Carl von Schönborn. The court chapel (Hofkirche) is completely integrated into the western part of the south wing and is barely discernible from the outside.

The residence has four floors, a ground floor with a high ceiling and an upper floor with a mezzanine above each. The latter served to enliven the façade and offered space for servants, kitchens and administrative offices. 

The residence has almost 400 rooms.

Originally, the court of honour was enclosed by a wrought-iron fence. This masterpiece of ironwork by Johann Georg Oegg was demolished in 1821 and sold at auction because it was not to the liking of a member of the Bavarian royal family.

The square in front of the residence today measures about 200 by 100 metres and is mainly used for parking. In the square is the Franconia Fountain from 1894.

The main staircase

In the Baroque style, the staircase gained importance as part of the formal reception room. The staircase of the Würzburg residence rises on a surface of 18 × 32 metres without pillars under an unsupported trough vault, a masterpiece of construction with a maximum height of 23 metres.

The lowest part of the staircase leads from the reception hall towards the blank wall and then splits into two staircases that double back. The host on the upper landing was thus able to see his visitors who were initially leaving him. As the guests turned and approached, the large ceiling fresco at the top became increasingly revealed to them.

This fresco, the largest in the world, created by Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo between 1750 and 1753, depicts the four continents, Europe, America, Asia and Africa.

Halls

The other most important rooms of the residence are the White Hall, the Imperial Hall, the Audience Hall next to the Venetian Room and the Hall of Mirrors, each of which was unique for the 18th century. The original Audience Room was the first room in the residence to be furnished in the new Rococo style as a major work by Ferdinand Hundt.

The White Hall testifies to Bossi's genius and mastery; the Kaisersaal, completed during Balthasar Neumann's lifetime, is probably the most authentic testimony to Neumann's decorative conception. The Hall of Mirrors can be considered the unsurpassed pinnacle of its genre. The White Hall, the Green Cabinet, the Venetian Room, which was decorated between 1738 and 1741, and the Court Church are remarkable spatial creations of the Franconian Rococo.

Garden

The residence was built when Würzburg was still a fortified town. Therefore, the garden had to be planned within the fortifications. The solution included two bastions of the fortification wall and took advantage of its height differences to create a very special landscape.

From west to east the terrain rises until it reaches the level of the walls. Close to the residence itself, the Hofgarten (or Court Gardens) is designed in a very formal, baroque style. At a greater distance the style changes to an English garden with small woods and meadows.

The designs for the first part were by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, Neumann and François de Cuvilliés. It was mostly created in 1759-70. Johann Peter Alexander Wagner supplied putti, vases, urns and two monumental sculptural groups, The Rape of Europa and The Abduction of Proserpina, located in the central axis between the Orangery and the south pavilion of the Residence. The figures were added to the park during the reign of Prince-Bishop Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim, who had the park in Weitshöchheim similarly decorated.

Three monumental gates, which Friedrich Karl von Schönborn had built by Johann Georg Oegg, lead to the courtyard gardens.

Die oben beschriebenen Gärten und repräsentativen Räume sind für die Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Ein Gedenkraum ist der Zerstörung der Residenz im März 1945 gewidmet. Er ist auch dem Andenken an Major John Davis Skilton gewidmet, dem "Denkmalpfleger" der US-Armee, der nach seiner Ankunft in Würzburg im Juni 1945 maßgeblich an der Bewahrung vieler Kunstschätze beteiligt war.

Der größte Teil der übrigen Residenz wird vom Martin-von-Wagner-Museum (1963 hierher verlegt) und der Universität Würzburg genutzt.

Im Jahr 1981 wurde die Würzburger Residenz in die Liste des UNESCO-Welterbes aufgenommen.