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Terrace’s Garden: WURZBURG June 8, 2008

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In spite of extensive damage by fire at the end of the Second World War, the Wurzburg Residenz remains the most important secular building in the Baroque style in Germany. This achievement speaks a great deal for the determination and intelligence of the rulers of the diminutive episcopal principality of Wurzburg. But the high standard of the Residenz in the constellation of European Baroque can be directly attributed to two men. The palace itself is the masterpiece of the court architect Johann Balthasar Neumann, who fused the traditions of the Bohemian and Viennese Baroque schools with new trends from France. In addition, the Wurzburg Residenz contains two stupendous fresco ensembles by the Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770).

Recognition of Neumann’s true stature as an architect is relatively recent, so it is perhaps worth saying something about his background. Born at Eger in the German-speaking part of Bohemia, he was first apprenticed to a bell-founder in his home town. In 1711, however, Neumann moved to Wurzburg where he received instruction in architecture from Andreas Muller, a captain in the prince- bishop’s corps of engineers. Then, in 1716-18, he gained practical experience as an engineer attached to the Austrian army in the Balkans and in northern Italy.

Travel GuidebookShortly after Neumann’s return from his travels, Johann Philipp Franz, Count of Schönborn, was elected Bishop of Würzburg. The new ruler, who came from an influential Rhenish family, immediately decided to move his court down from the medieval citadel of Marienberg (where it had been established five centuries earlier for security) to the town itself on the banks of the River Main. He formed a committee to look after the replanning of the town according to the `rationalist’ principles that were fashionable at the time, and Neumann drew up an illustrated treatise for the committee to refer to. At the same time, the bishop—who admitted to suffering from a disease he called the ‘building worm’—decided to put up a vast new palace at the edge of the town. Although Neumann was put in charge, it was only gradually that he gained the full confidence of the bishop, who was determined to get the best available advice. Neumann benefited greatly from this outside talent and when the time came to take full responsibility for the operations, he was familiar with all the leading architectural trends of his day.

The bishop first consulted his relatives Lothar Franz von Schön-born, the Elector of Mainz, and Friedrich Carl von Schönborn, who was Vice-Chancellor of the Empire in Vienna. Maximilian von Welsch, the elector’s architect, favoured long colonnades and hemispherical domes in the French manner, while the vice-chancellor naturally plumped for the ‘imperial‘ style that had recently achieved its greatest triumphs in the Austrian capital. The general scheme that resulted from these interventions provided for a large cour d’honneur formed by two wings flanking a broad central block with cornerpavilions and inner courtyards.

In 1723, after building had already begun, Neumann was sent to Paris to seek advice on the plans from Louis XV’s architects Robert de Cotte and Germain Boffrand. The following year Boffrand was invited to come and inspect the site personally. The changes suggested by the Frenchmen mainly affected the inner circulation of the palace. The principle of the enfilade, whereby the doorways of a suite of rooms were placed along an axis, was established. The double staircase, which the bishop wanted in the centre, was reduced to a single flight of the imperial type also found at the Escorial and Caserta.

When Johann Philipp Franz died in 1724 only about a fifth of the Residenz was completed. This alarmed by his extravagance, elected the parsimonious Christoph Franz von Hutten to succeed him, and for five years work on the building ceased. But in 1729 the Schönborn family returned to Würzburg in the person of Friedrich Carl, the imperial vice-chancellor. On his election, work on the building was energetically resumed—at first under strong Viennese influence. Lucas von Hildebrandt, court architect to the emperor, suggested that a mezzanine storey be introduced on the garden side to give added height to the Kaisersaal, a change that made this extraordinary room even more impressive. The graceful curved pediments of the exterior were also designed under Hildebrandt’s influence.

In the mid-1730s Neumann undertook the design of the palace chapel in the south-west wing. The rather plain facade gives no hint of the exciting interior with its curving colonnades supporting the three oval vaults. The bishop asked that the ancient tradition of two- storey design be followed in the chapel, a request Neumann carriedout by introducing small galleries above the middle cornice and by designing the altar on two levels. With its fine stucco work by Antonio Bossi and paintings by Johann Rudolf Byss, the chapel is a small masterpiece that heralds Neumann’s later achievements in the churches of Neresheim and Vierzehnheiligen.

By 1744 the construction of the Wurzburg Residenz was more-orless complete, though most of the interior had yet to be decorated. In particular, Neumann’s magnificent staircase and the octagonal Kaisersaal still needed worthy embellishment. But the building itself must have been stately enough, for Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen stopped there on their way to Frankfurt for their coronation as sovereigns of the Holy Roman Empire. After being shown over the Residenz by the architect, the imperial couple were so impressed that they requested designs for a new palace in Vienna. These plans (which still survive though they were never carried out because of the financial strain of the Silesian Wars) provided for another imperial staircase and a large chapel.

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Terrace’s Garden: WURZBURG

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