Würzburg
City, northwestern Bavaria Land (state), south-central Germany. It lies along the canalized Main River. The site of a Celtic settlement, it was first mentioned as Virteburch in 704. A bishopric was established there by St. Boniface in 741/742, and the bishops had acquired ducal authority over eastern Franconia by the 12th century. Repeated revolts against the power of the bishops resulted in the citizens' final submission to their authority in 1400. Several imperial diets (assemblies) and councils were held in Würzburg, including the one of 1180, when Henry the Lion was placed under the imperial ban and the Bavarian duchy was taken from him and given to Otto, a member of the Wittelsbach family. Würzburg progressed under Bishop Julius (1573–1617), and much building was commissioned by the bishops of the Schönborn family in the 18th century. The bishopric was secularized in 1802, and the city passed to Bavaria in 1802/03. In 1805 it became the seat of the grand duchy of Würzburg in the Confederation of the Rhine, until it was restored to Bavaria in 1814. A new bishopric was created in 1821.
Much of the city was destroyed in World War II, but its postwar reconstruction has been thorough. Although the splendid Baroque episcopal Residenze (built 1719–44 by Balthasar Neumann) was damaged, its grand staircase, with famous frescoes by Giovanni Tiepolo, survived. Other landmarks are the medieval Main Bridge, the Julius Hospital, the town hall, and the Marienberg fortress, originally a Celtic hill fort, which was the residence of the bishops (c. 1250–1720). The round church within the courtyard of the fortress is one of the oldest churches extant in Germany (706). Würzburg's Romanesque cathedral, begun in 1034, consecrated in 1189, and restored after World War II, recalls the city's former status as the capital of an ecclesiastical principality. Other notable medieval churches include the Marienkapelle, the Neumünster (with a Baroque facade), and St. Burchard's, and among many fine examples of the Baroque and Rococo styles are the Hauger Stiftskirche and the Käpelle, a pilgrimage church (by Neumann). A university was founded at Würzburg in 1403, but it existed for only a few years. The present University of Würzburg was founded by Bishop Julius in 1582.
Würzburg, once the capital of Franconia, is the capital of the Bavarian administrative district of Lower Franconia and is a centre of grape growing and of rail and river traffic. Würzburg is a centre for the mechanical press industry and the manufacture of steel, paper and printing, electronics, wood, leather, and wine. Pop. (1989 est.) 125,589.
Copyright © 1994-2002 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Sources
- Encylopedia Britannica 2002, Expanded Edition DVD
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