Frankenwein and Baroque excess — Tiepolo's greatest ceiling and the wine capital of northern Germany on the Main river
Würzburg is a Franconian city on the Main River in Bavaria that contains the Würzburg Residence — one of the most important Baroque palaces in Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Built between 1720 and 1744 by the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg under Balthasar Neumann's direction, the Residence's Kaisersaal (Imperial Hall) and grand staircase are decorated with Giambattista Tiepolo's ceiling frescoes — the largest fresco in the world in the staircase hall (677m², painted 1752-53), depicting the four continents in an extraordinary trompe-l'oeil composition. Würzburg is also the wine c…
Würzburg grew as the seat of the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg, a powerful ecclesiastical principality that controlled Franconia for over a millennium. The current Residence was ordered by Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn and built between 1720 and 1744 — the ceiling frescoes by Tiepolo (the greatest decorative painter of the 18th century, working at the peak of his powers at age 56) were added in 1752-53. The city was 90% destroyed by Allied bombing on 16 March 1945 in a 17-minute firebombing that killed 5,000 people; the Residence survived only because its stone vaulting held w…