Wurzburg, Germany - Twelve regal statues on the Old Mainbrucke

Travel Blog  No. 9

Ronald J. Jack

I saw no trace evidence of WW2 in Wurzburg, and yet during the final months of the Allied Campaign against Germany the U.S.A.A.F. bombed the crap out of the city. Postwar the Americans garrisoned the city and stayed for several decades. The locals made the best of that occupation and as German economic vitality was restored, so too were the great historical landmarks. Wurzburg's leaders set about funding the rebuilding of those Imperial and religious monuments that were already tourist attractions before the wartime bombardment. These included the Prince Bishop's Palace, the old Main Bridge (Alte Mainbrucke) and the hilltop Fortress (Festung) Marienberg.  So when Viking River Cruises delivers its passengers to Wurzburg, the primary stop on the itinerary is the Bishop's Palace, with its stunning Baroque architecture and gorgeous fresco ceilings.

The Bishop's Palace is meant to be an impressive display of antique opulence, but I didn't enjoy the visit. I soon found myself back outside contemplating the sprawling parade square. Once whole squadrons of mounted cavalry might assemble there, passing in ceremonial review. But today that space seems supremely awkward and unnecessary, like the asphalt sea at Tien-An-Men Square in Beijing.  IThe stone-paved surface is now tightly crowded with rows of parked cars... the ideal spot for admiring the elevated fortress across the river. The American bombing gutted the Baroque Palace, but scarcely before the ashes had cooled, German technicians set about a total restoration, using original blueprints, photographs and drawings.  Today the caretakers make a fetish of preventing tourists from photographing the frescos that adorn the lofty ceilings, as if the ban on photography is the final act of feigning authenticity. They pounce, and they pounce again. Its very ironic that the Germans are helpless-as-children when it comes to the millions of economic migrants yearly crossing their borders and squatting in their cities, but they can be oh-so-efficient in marshalling millions of tourists each year. Law-abiding Canadians are putty in their hands.

Baroque opulence - a mirrored apartment in the Bishop's Palace, c1900.

I found this century old Wurzburg postcard that offers a peek inside a private apartment in the palace. The image (minus the gaudy colours) is virtually identical to the post-war restoration, that tourists were not permitted to photograph.  Most of the information recited by the tour-guide is long forgotten, but I recall he made much of the notion that playing a game of cards was impossible, because the walls and ceiling are entirely surfaced in mirrors.  By that time, I was craning my neck looking for the exit. 

My wife did manage to capture two shots of the beautiful frescoed ceilings, using her iPad Air, which doesn't require flash illumination. The tour guide and the security guards were constantly muttering - "No photos!" and she was completely defeated. These are not original artworks so the pouncing of the custodians on picture takers is a needless whimsy.  We were instructed to purchase our pictures in the  gift shop, but the age of the postcard and postage stamp is ended. 

Twelve Statues on a Stone Bridge

The guide books tell us that Germany's first stone bridge once existed where the city of Wurzburg later grew.  The solid span across the Main River linked the old city with the massive fortification on the hill -  Festung Marienberg, and until recently it still allowed for light automobile traffic. About 450 years ago the city father's decided to restore the crossing with a structure that was even more solid and indestructible, but the Age of Gunpowder took a toll, and the "Alte Mainbrucke" had to be repaired quite frequently.  Sculptures were commissioned to decorate the tops each of twelve support piers, with statues of the Frankish Kings and the Saints who were most dear to the Catholic population. During WW2 the bridge took damage, including the decapitation of the Statue of St. John of Nepomuk - the protector against river flooding.  All have now been carefully restored, and the great bridge is, I do believe, the best spot for communing with Wurzburg's glorious past.

Here I juxtapose a modern image of two friends, Charlie and Lina, crossing the Main Bridge, with a photograph taken in 1895, and sold to tourists c1900.  The early photo was made from an elevated position but it is close enough to make a comparison.  We note that in 1895 there was a statue missing from the row of Saints.  That would have been Saint Fredericus von Utrecht.  I only know that because I discovered a wonder online tool for interpreting what we observe on the Wurzburg bridge.

Saint Fredericus is No. 8 in the montage I show you next, and if you have any interest in monumental sculpture, (I hope you do)  I believe you will want to jump to this interpretive webpage, which also includes the statues found at ten other important European sites.  The website is Copyright - Rene and Peter van der Krogt.

I scraped this montage from the Internet so I could

interest you in jumping to that interesting web page.

It describes each of the 12 statues in detail.  Please

click on STATUES OF THE OLD MAIN BRIDGE.

Charlie and I paused for a chat beside the statue of a King - Pepin the Short  "Pippin der Jungere", who was the first King of the Franks. (His span-date of his reign was A.D. 752-768)  Pepin was the father of Charlemagne, who is also included among the massive figures on the bridge... but I didn't recognize him, and so failed to get a photo. Behind us is a marvellous old restaurant and inn. The proud owner displays old photographs of the building, for the interest of passing tourists. We photographed one of them, for the sake of historical context.  I have indicated where we stood, next to King Pepin.

By now it is well established in this travel blog, that I was searching for the authentic in Europe, and drawing upon these individual encounters to help me connect with the people and events of rich history.  It was literally the best strategy for me, a lifelong reader of history, to transform the abstract into genuine and meaningful personal experience.  Fortunately my tolerant wife indulged my obsession with "THEN and NOW" comparisons, often getting the shots I wanted to research when we got back to British Columbia.

Alas, we were not given the opportunity to visit Festung Marienberg. That was rather disappointing. Though we were given ample time to roam about, nobody in our tour group attempted to climb the hill to the fortress on their own, as that would risk missing the shuttle bus back to Viking Bestla. We contented ourselves with posing on on the bridge with the fortress at our backs. Our friend Lina (wearing green) somewhere found a matching cover for her iPad, and she was the easiest of our "Gang" to locate on a crowded platz.  Wurzburg was the only stop on the cruise when I left my camera aboard ship.  Perhaps I had a premonition that photography would be "an issue" with local guides, as it had been with the staff of the Romano-German Museum in Cologne.

It wasn't often that we managed to get "the gang" together for a group shot.  (We were nine Taiwanese and me, the honorary Formosan.) Here we managed just eight, because two of us were shooting quickly before the crowd poured into the platz.   It was then a rush back to our Viking longship for a sumptuous lunch, and a few tasty German beer. We had a full afternoon of exciting river cruising awaiting us.

Wertheim am Main - Dashing about without a map or a plan

Travel Blog No. 8

(click on photos to enlarge them)

Wertheim is a town in the state of Baden-Wurttembag. The Luftwaffe had a small airfield there during W.W. 2 to instruct pilots in flying the JU87 STUKA. The town was captured by the Americans in 1945, and postwar the airfield hosted a small U.S. Army base called Camp Peden. In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union having collapsed, the camp became redundant and it was closed.  Wertheim is built at the confluence of two historic rivers - the Tauber and the wider Main. The Medieval town suffered partial destruction during the Thirty Years War, and  Wertheim Castle the hilltop landmark, was left a picturesque ruin for almost three centuries. From the air the old town looks like a giant slice of pizza.  A slice made crunchy with modern red tiles and ancient red sandstone building blocks. Cross over the highway bridge and you are back in Bavaria.

An interesting pair of Wertheim photos I

scraped from a U.S. Veterans webpage.

In 1945 there was also a dispersed  ME109

production facility at Wertheim, hidden in

tunnels, barns and the surrounding forest.

A 1960s postcard of Castle Wertheim, found on Ebay

While we were busy touring Miltenberg the VIKING BESTLA had continued upriver. Towards the end of our afternoon we boarded motor-coaches and dashed along the river highway to Wertheim, not really knowing what to expect. This was one of the few stops where Viking does not provide a guided tour, and without a map you are pretty much left to your own devices. The time constraint means you have to confine yourself within the old town, which is too bad, because Wertheim is definitely worthy of a more careful visit. After receiving instructions from Tour Director - Alex, we all scattered. My wife and I made  our way through the narrow streets, looking for something inviting to photograph.

The Renaissance well known as the "Engelsbrunnen" has been photographed by every tourist who ever entered the town with a camera. Why should we be different?  Built of the same red sandstone of which our Miltenberg town-guide was so proud, the brunnen (it means both well and fountain) takes it name from the pair of angels that adorn the top of the piece.

For many years the Engelsbrunnen existed with its red sandstone skirting removed, and folks could use either of two drinking fountains. The stone skirting is now restored, as are two iron pulleys that indicate it was a well. This postcard view of the well is about 100 years old.  Further along we turned into a courtyard with a large church on our right, and a smaller chapel to the left. The old castle loomed on the hill above, and the shadows were deepening as the sun was sinking at our back. I  had no knowledge of any of the monuments we were photographing, but trusted we could research them when we were home in Canada.

And this is the same view - taken about 70 years ago.  It seems virtually unchanged.

In the basement of the chapel are entombed the bones of the Counts of Wertheim, most of whom were Catholic.  Of course we had no opportunity to enter the chapel, and contented ourselves with recording interesting corners and monuments of the surrounding area - and they were quite abundant.  The much larger structure on the right is the Evangelishe Stiftskirche - the principle Protestant Church in Wertheim.  If you go back to the aerial photo you will see that the yellow church is the largest structure in the old town.

Posing on the chapel steps, October 6, 2014.

Many of the carved plaques attest to the piety and charity of Wertheim's Christian elite, all now gone. Husband and wife memorials are very commonly found on German churches.  This is one of several we photographed.  I cannot read German and I have no way of telling you the story of this couple.  

In addition to the ubiquitous red sandstone monuments, we encountered plenty of red foliage in Wertheim which I attributed to the time of year.  Behind the church was an elderly vine which is living attached to a retaining wall some 30 feet in height. Here Wendy poses with some gorgeous colour!  I admit I posed at the wall too.

An additional feature built on the wall of the church is a sun dial which was large enough for the inhabitants of the schlosse (built on the ruin of Castle Wertheim) to check the hour of the day.   Because it had already gone past 6pm, the wall was in shadow.   It was time for us to start back to meet the VIKING BESTLA, which we had been promised must be waiting for us on the Main River.

Our longship was at the dockside, as were most of our fellow passengers, all waiting for the gangplank to be secured in place.  Several of the wonderful dining room staff and our beloved chef were lining the rail to greet us and, at a signal,  pulled out large letters that spelled "WELCOME BACK". Their gesture was much appreciated and we were very happy to pile aboard to prepare ourselves for cocktails and dinner. There was still much to see and enjoy as we set sail upriver.

Miltenberg - Where timber houses and a landmark hotel predate Columbus' Voyage of Discovery

TRAVEL BLOG No. 7

Viking Bestla approaches Miltenberg, and the savvy

swans  soon begged bread beneath our cabin balconies.

Nothing prepares a Canadian for the architectural delights of Miltenberg.  Even the ramparts at Quebec City are 'new' in comparison to much of what you are encouraged to touch and admire in this ancient German town.  Roman walls, a Renaissance church and squared-timber houses which predate the voyage of Christopher Columbus!  This was a river bank fortified by the Romans, then abandoned, and centuries later rebuilt, only to be scorched by the raiding Huns. This was a town where the Protestant Reformation initially faltered, and early followers of Martin Luther were beheaded.

VIKING BESTLA tied up at 2PM and we were soon parcelled into groups at dockside. We had already adjusted to the tour routine -  the leisurely stroll with well-informed local guide, followed by an hour or two of "exploring" - ie. scurrying about for those precious and very individual moments of discovery and meaning.  Between my wife and I, we came away with over 100 photos, and since returning to Canada I have done sufficient research that I can attest to the historical age and authenticity of what we were shown.  

For most tourists, the establishing shot at Miltenberg is the century-old tower and bridge that spans the river.  Both are constructed of gleaming red sandstone blocks, as are many of the public buildings in the town. I choose instead an old postcard (c1920) that is filled with many details that are no longer obvious, simply because the inhabitants enjoy letting the trees and bush grow thicker. If I had known that cemetery was there, I might have found a gate and had myself a quick look. 

We did however, have a careful look at a short section of the old Roman wall.  You will note that the Romans began the tradition of quarrying local stone to build their town, and stone cutting has employed  local men for centuries. Our tour guide insisted, and though confirmation escaped me I should not doubt her,  that much of the red sandstone used in building the wall around the Kremlin in Moscow, was quarried at Miltenberg.  [Kremlin walls and towers.]

If you visit, you will find it rather tricky to get shots of what remains of the original Roman defensive wall.  Nothing beats a human body for adding scale to a shot, so I stand here with my friend Lina.  Moments later I walked around the grey stucco building and photographed the opening though the wall.  That was the best I could do.  Imagine my delight when, a few months later, I found on German EBAY a postcard image of the same spot - printed roughly 110 years ago !  I have labeled my two photos and the antique postcard so readers can see for themselves how this crowded corner of Miltenberg has evolved since Roman times.

"Ein romantisches Eck an der Stadtmauer."  My German-English dictionary tells me this translates to  "a corner of the Roman City Wall".  If you look over my shoulder you will see that the two small structures built into the Roman wall are newly clad but their pitch and dimensions shows that the property owners have held on to those small lots, which must have been registered centuries ago.

Our guide spent less than fifteen minutes in the alleyways, before steering us back to the main tourist corridor.  We broke away briefly to get a series of photos in more cramped spaces, where winter frost and building settling has broken walls, exposing the interior details of ancient walls.   Its a truly fascinating catalog of innovation and repair by men long dead, but much too detailed for a Blog article. At one point we turned a corner into a narrow alley and bumped into a dozen men congregated outside an open door. They were, I believe, Turks and assorted Middle Eastern males. I assumed the flat or office was a strand in the continent-wide web of migrant trans-shipment that is always in the news, and I didn't attempt conversation.

The Hauptstrasse, or Main Street of the old town.

When we caught up to the tour group, I found our "gang" - all Taiwanese and Taiwanese Canadians, giving the guide their full attention. She really was very well informed, and I felt a tad guilty for having gone off on my own.  Still, several thousand tourists travel this corridor each day,  and I only had the one afternoon to form a lasting impression of a remarkable community.

In this photo my wife is standing in front of Miltenberg's most famous landmark -  a 600 year old hotel known as the Gasthaus zum Riesen, or "The Giant".  It is actually one of the oldest surviving hotels in Germany, dated to 1411, with archaeological evidence of an earlier structure beneath it.  If you can believe it, the Wiki-page boasts that Elvis Presley once took a room there. Had Columbus chosen to  beg expedition funding from a Bavarian princeling instead of a Spanish Queen, he might well have slept in that hotel.

 

Our tour guide stopped in front of the old Town Hall, to explain the details of its history and design, as well as to indicate how high the flood waters climbed a few years back.  It was trash collecting day in Miltenberg, so there were bins and bags on every street.

It was just a few more steps to enter the Marketplatz, where we assembled by the stone fountain to receive our last round of historical facts, anecdotes and suggestions to sample the local cuisine.  We did step into a bakery that displayed the most extraordinary formed and braided bread-work I've yet encountered, but we invested our time in further exploration of the town.  Again, I have found a century-old postcard image (below) which attests to the age and authenticity of the streetscapes. Miltenberg was a fortunate town that was passed over by Allied bombers during WW2, and it is mind-numbing to contemplate that only 70 years ago there were entire German cities, such as Nuremberg, filled with architecture compatible to this. 

The Miltenberg Marketplatz is remarkably preserved.

Our last foray was to seek a vantage point above the town, from where we could look down upon the river.  To the left, and uphill from the square, is the the town museum and an alley between two walls that leads to the the "Schnatterlochs-Turm" or "chatting gate tower".  Once through, the slopes are dark and cool under a canopy of trees, but pathways lead to lovely terraced properties where the photographer enjoys an open panorama above most of the rooftops.

Of course the Viking River Tour concentrates entirely on old town Miltenberg, as it should. A bustling modern city has expanded upriver and on the opposite side of the bridge, but the old town is the jewel all Germans treasure.  It is truly a walk back through time.

While we friends were enjoying our afternoon, the crew of Viking Bestla had continued the journey upriver to Wurtheim, where they docked and the kitchen staff prepared to serve us a sumptuous feast.  In motor coaches we covered in perhaps 20 minutes, the same distance it had taken the longship to sail in a few hours.  There was time for a hot shower and a stretch on deck,  and yes always a few beers in the lounge, before being seated to an exquisite dinner.   Pure bliss.