Today’s tour is in a small town with a BIG palace. Big not in size, although I’d say 360 rooms for five people seems extravagant,but truly big in design and decor. In Medieval class structure the church was lead of just about everything but there were some instances where the civil status was also involved. The Bishop who was rewarded for favors often got the title of Bishop/duke but it didn’t translate well, so the title became Prince Bishop. They could receive taxes from the city dwellers and therefor became rich and powerful while being religious leaders also. In Wurzburg, this guy was a very vain human and decided he needed to build a new castle as his old one was too high up the hill and took him to much effort to walk up and down….
Old one up the hill 
New one in townBut first: this sign was on the seats in the bus: no wild peeing in Wurzburg!
Now on to the most magnificent palace!
Every palace should have a grand staircase and this one is no exception! The two flights of stairs are lined with marble statues and while looking up you are treated to the most impressive frescos. The subject is “the four continents “ ( no one knew of Australia) and each side represented the artist’s rendition of what he thought it looked like. Therefor, the ostrich has immense muscular legs looking like a human form and the woman from the Americas is riding an alligator. Remember we are in the 15th century here!
I thought this was quite enough to show how powerful this prince bishop was and I was already impressed….only to be stunned at the nest few rooms. 70% of this palace has been restored… if you are a talented bricklayer or restorer you could work forever in Germany!
We leave the staircase and are immediately shocked by the immense lack of color in the next room. This was a different artist’s room and he was a military man so the room is in whites and light grey, the military colors. It was equally ornate.
OH but it just gets better!
The imperial room is ramping up the Rocco styling
Had enough yet?? Of course not! Remember this guy was vain and wealthy!
A parquet floor
Elegant chimneys
Mirrors to look your best!
And chandeliers worth more than the GDP
Every wall supported a tapestry
And the ceiling in this room was the plainest thing in the room. The mirror room was a room complete with reverse etching behind each mirror to give it the detailed design.. ready to see?
Had enough Rocco yet? At this point I was totally light headed and my mind was spinning. I had studied Rocco style when I studied art history but I never ever thought i could get sick of it….I was wrong. The thought of living daily is this stuff would make me want to run away from home!after such overload, we quickly headed outside to the gardens. Oh what a relief for my senses!Thank you for this moment of ZEN.
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