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.