Würzburg is the sixth largest city of Bavaria and the area was first settled in the fourth century. If you have ever visited, the residents call their state “Freistaat Bayern”, not Bavaria. This means the free state of Bayern. For many years I lived in Augsburg of Bavaria where the daily greeting was Grüß Gott (God Bless) instead of Guten Tag (Good Day). Kind of a southern thing.
If you were stationed in the military in Germany, you know Würzburg was a great place for shopping at the Leighton Barracks which was at the site of a former WWII German Luftwaffe airbase. It was closed in 2008 and returned to the Germans.
The center of the old city is dominated by the Würzburg Residence (top photo) which was completed in 1744 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte stayed at the Residence three times and on 2 October 1806 he signed the declaration of war against Prussia here. Many of the rooms and gardens are open to the public along with the court chapel and museum. My photo is a view from the Hofgarten with the iced fountain.
(Statue of St. Totnan)
Leaving the Residence, we walked through the old town and crossed the historic Old Main Bridge (Alte Mainbrücke) which is one of the most popular city attractions. It is open to pedestrians only and features statues of saints and other icons. Three of the twelve statues on it are those of the Irish saints who brought Christianity to the area. One of those statues is St. Totnan where a feathered friend has found a resting place.
Saint Totnan was born in Ireland and martyred along with Saint Colman and Saint Kilian in Würzburg in 689. Duke Gozbert of Wurzburg became a Christian, but his wife remained a pagan. Kilian told Gozbert that he was breaking Christian scripture by marrying his brother’s widow, Geilana. Geilana retaliated by sending her soldiers to the main square of Würzburg, where the three were preaching, and had them beheaded. Totnan was posthumously named patron saint of the Bishopric of Würzburg.
(Marienkirche)
After crossing the bridge, we made our way up the hill to the Marienberg Fortress which dominates the city from above. Prior to the Residence being built, the Marienberg Fortress was the ruling seat of the Würzburg prince-bishops from around 1250. Within the fortress walls are the circular St Mary’s Church (Marienkirche), which dates back to AD 706, the forty-meter-high keep and the well house with a cistern over 100 meters deep. These are captured in my photo. The fortress also houses a museum and gardens.
The Würzburg witch trials, which occurred between 1626 and 1631, are one of the largest peace-time mass trials. In Würzburg, under Bishop Philip Adolf, an estimated 600 to 900 alleged witches were burnt.
Train is the most popular way to get to Würzburg. From Frankfurt, 30 trains arrive per day (trip time: 1 hr., 10 min.); from Munich, 20 trains (2 hr., 10 min.); from Nürnberg, 30 trains (1 hr.); and 12 trains from Stuttgart (2 hr., 15 min.).
