A Baroque total work of artThe Würzburg Residence was the palace of the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg, in Bavaria. This Baroque three-wing complex was built between 1720 and 1780 for Johann Philipp Franz and Friedrich Karl von Schönborn, to the design of the great architect Balthasar Neumann. Described as an 'exceptional Baroque total work of art', the Residence, together with its court garden and the Residenzplatz, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981. Sixty years in the buildingConstruction began in May 1720, and the shell of the whole palace was completed by the end of 1744; the interiors were not finished until 1780. The Prince-Bishops moved their seat here from the fortress of Marienberg, seeking a residence worthy of an absolutist ruler within the city itself. Tiepolo's ceilingThe high point of the interior came between 1749 and 1754, when Giovanni Battista Tiepolo frescoed the staircase, the Imperial Hall and the court church. Above Neumann's monumental unsupported vault, the staircase carries the largest continuous ceiling fresco in the world. Also outstanding are the Vestibule, the Garden Hall, the White Hall, the Imperial Hall (Kaisersaal) and the court church (Hofkirche). War and recoveryThe palace was heavily damaged in the Second World War, but its most important spaces — the staircase and its fresco among them — survived or were carefully restored, and it remains one of the supreme achievements of European Baroque. Location: Würzburg, Bavaria, GermanyBuilt: 1720–1780; architect Balthasar Neumann for the Schönborn Prince-BishopsHighlights: Grand staircase with Tiepolo's world-record ceiling fresco, Kaisersaal, White Hall, Hofkirche, court gardenStatus: UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981Visiting: Open as a museum palace with state rooms and gardens
