Travel from UAE to Würzburg, the German town rebuilt by women

Steeples and spires, red roofs, bridges and ornate fountains — there is beauty all around me that takes me back to a Baroque past. I am in Würzburg, which straddles the Main River and is nicknamed the city of a 100 churches, in Franconia, Germany, a region famous for its vineyards and generally, the first stop on the fabled 460km Romantic Road.

In the 12th century,  the town became powerful when the bishops were elevated to the rank of prince bishop, and religion and politics came together for the first time. They built extravagant buildings and palaces to show their power and prosperity.  In the 19th century, Napoleon merged Franconia with its southern neighbour, Bavaria, by which the city is ruled now.

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Legend has it that three Irish monks came to Würzburg in 686AD, and  the locals beheaded them. Later, their relics were planted in the town’s church, making the town an important place of pilgrimage.

Home of the rubble women

Not many know that 87 per cent of the city was destroyed by bombing at the end of the Second World War. Many of its  magnificent churches, cathedrals, and buildings were damaged. The city became known as the “Grab am Main” (“the grave on the River Main”) and there were proposals to build a new city altogether, but the residents, especially the women, came together and assisted in reconstruction efforts. The women who rebuilt the city were called the Trummerfrauen —  the rubble women — because the men were dead or prisoners of war. The women  took on the task as it got them  rations in hard times.

Standing guard over the city, on a hill, is the eighth century fortress Marienberg, which has dungeons and a museum. It was home to the prince bishops for five centuries. 

Today, the ancient town has a fresh and youthful vibe thanks to its large university  population. Our home away from home, the Best Western Premier Hotel Redstock, is a guest house dating back to 1408 and the building — which has a striking Rococo façade — has an annexe situated within the old stone walls of a Franciscan monastery as well as a Michelin star restaurant. Grapes and vineyards inspire the decor of the hotel, with everything from carpets to murals reflecting this.

History whispers from every corner of the town, which has been under the Celts and the Romans in the past. This  is the home of 14 Nobel prize winners including Wilhelm Röntgen, who discovered the X-Ray.  His original laboratory has been preserved for visitors. This was also where the witch trials took place in 1631, when more than 900 alleged magic wielders were burned at the stake.

We stroll through the cobbled streets of the town lined with stately buildings and decorative fountains at every corner. There’s the Brunnen am Stenrplatz, a star-shaped fountain with statues of a satyr, a nymph, and fish. Then, there is the Hackerbrunnen fountain, which depicts a traditional wine maker in his suit and the Chronosbrunnen along Hofstrasse,  which features an aged Chronos, the Greek deity of time, as a winged creature pointing to the Residenz. Along the riverside is the Ring Park,  a 19th-century circular riverside park that encircles the downtown area of the city and a popular green lung for locals.

Living museum

This town is a living museum, lined with Baroque- and Rococo-style buildings. Even the tourism office is housed in the historic Falkenhaus, an 18th-century guesthouse with a yellow Rococo façade. Trams  trundle their way through the main streets, and students sit over their coffees in cafes.

The tall Romanesque Killian Cathedral looms over the town, with its twin towers, built in a mish-mash of architectural styles and filled with frescoes, paintings, and sculptures. Architect Balthasar Neumann added the baroque Schönborn Chapel, the burial place of the prince bishops in the 18th century, with motifs of death on the façade.

I make my way to the Gothic Marienkapelle, or the St Mary’s church, built by merchants in the town square, with its dramatic red-and-white exterior. This is where the tombs of Franconian knights and citizens of Würzburg, including the architect Balthasar Neumann, are located. I love the small stores on the south and west sides of the Marienkapelle, which are called  Swallow’s Nests as they stick to the church’s façade. The church used to rent out these stores, as a source of income in the past as Rome did not bankroll them.

Our local guide, Maria Pertmann Ley, takes us to Würzburg’s most romantic sight, a tranquil cloister garden on the north side of the Neumunster —  in this little garden is the cure to love-sickness; it supposedly helps to put flowers on the memorial stone here for the local minstrel, Walther von der Vogelweide.

All roads lead to the showstopper of the city, the 360-room Palace of the Prince-Bishops in the centre of town. Known as the Residenz, it is  one of the grandest palaces in Germany and a Unesco Heritage Site. Surrounded by Italian Baroque gardens with terraces and pruned fruit-bearing trees, it is reminiscent of Versailles.  It took 44 years to build and its  flamboyant interiors took three decades to be completed.  German architect Balthasar Neumann worked with a talented team of stucco artists, painters,  woodcarvers, and sculptors to create this beauty. Fortunately, only some parts were damaged in the war and they have been painstakingly reconstructed since, like the awe-inspiring mirror cabinet.

A beautiful facade

Walking through the vestibule, where VIP guests dressed in finery would have arrived in the past in stately carriages, one comes across an impressive staircase and a ceiling with crystal chandeliers, covered with a gargantuan fresco that’s bathed in soft light.

The fresco was created in 1752,  by the Venetian master Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Maria explains that it depicts the four continents known at that time, and represents Würzburg and  the prince bishops as the centre of the world,  keeping up with the 18th century European world view. Each continent is symbolised by a woman on an animal pointing to the prince bishop in the medallion above Europe. Moorish princesses, elephants, ostriches, camels, alligators, and a panoply of deities prance across the ceiling and spill over the sides. It also has the portraits of the architect Neumann and the artist himself in the fresco.

One can visit 40 rooms today, furnished with antique furniture, tapestries and stunning art. The most impressive are the monochrome White Hall, with its curved, twisted stucco designs by artist Antonio Bossi in all forms and shapes from shells and garlands to cherubs and  draperies, and the reconstructed Mirror Hall with its  extravagant reverse glass painting, white stucco, and lavish gold leaf that awes you with its opulence and beauty. It is said that the gilders spent 30,000 hours applying 2.5 kilos of gold leaf to this project.

We make our way to another iconic spot in town,  the Old Bridge on the River Main from the 16th century, which  links the old town and the former fisherman’s quarter on the left bank. 

Lined with 12 statues of  saints and emperors, from St Killian to Charlemagne, it seems inspired by the bridges of Prague and Heidelberg. 

We soak in the panoramic views of the town and the vineyards, the fortress on the hill, while communing with its glorious past. I muse on how well the town has been reconstructed to preserve its history and heritage.