Visiting Wurzburg on Wednesday

  We have decided not to post for every single little town where we stop unless there is something really special, as they all have 300-400 year old houses and churches and some have castles and palaces.  After only 6 days on our cruise, even for us, they are all looking alike.  

In Wurzburg, the showplace is the Wurzburg Residenz and Court Gardens, former home of the Wurzburg Prince-bishops.   This is considered  one of the most important baroque palaces in Europe.

Designed in 1720 and completed in 1780, we think this one rivals Versailles, Schonbrunn Imperial Palace in Vienna and Catherine's Palace in St. Petersburg. We have seen all the others and for us, this one trumps even the best of the best.  We had a small tour group, fabulous guide, Victoria, and excellent headset broadcast.

There are over 320 rooms in the palace, 40 open for touring and we saw probably 6 of them.  The interior designs follow a rococo design specifically copying the design of the lace murex shell.  Rather than using a mold, the sculptor sculpted all the intricate carvings on the ceilings and the wall. Gold embellishments are 24 carat gold leaf.  

 Beautiful lace murex shell.

This shell is one of the ones we love to collect

 on Bonita Beach, FL

 

 

 

 

The palace was damaged severely during 1945 war bombings.  Today we saw both original rooms as well as those meticulously restored.  The tapestries were indescribable as were the furnishings.  The tapestries, furnishings and the chandeliers were all removed for safe keeping before 1945, and what we saw were originals.  We have seen tapestries all over the world, but none as splendidly preserved as these.