We had a great tour of the Würzburg Residence built by the Prince-Bishop Schönbrunn. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside. If there's ever a job you would like to have, prince-bishop would be it. A prince-bishop has all of the canonical authority of a bishop as well as the ecumenical authority to impose taxes and make laws. A residence such as this truly gives a new meaning to the word "opulence."
When guests arrived, their carriages actually entered the building through doors behind the statue in front. The grand staircase goes up halfway to a landing, turns and continues up. As you go up the first half, you see little of interest, mostly just a blank wall with high windows. But then as you turn to complete your climb, you experience the grandeur of the entire ceiling. It is very much baroque with multiple 3-D physical extensions of the paintings. And just when you think you have it figured out, you think you spot another 3-D extension, but it's not. It's part of the painting.
Guests were received in a huge white room cleverly named The White Room. If it were an official visit with the prince-bishop, they would begin making their way through a series of rooms, each more ornate and heavily decorated than the previous, all designed to remind you how insignificant you are. Very impressive.
The building suffered some damage during World War II. Fortunately, much of its contents were removed before the bombing and were returned after the war.
We had the opportunity for a brief walking tour through town as we returned to the boat. The city itself was not damaged all that much during the war. The reason was the U. S. Secretary of State's mother used to visit the city and spoke fondly of it over the years with her family. As a result, the Secretary of State called the general who was selecting areas to target, pleaded the city was of no strategic value and asked him to spare it from the bombing.
Here we go, another one of my little side streets with its visual treasures.
Another castle (or abbey) high upon the hill. (Those vertical vineyard rows really confound me!)
