Visiting Wurzburg, Germany (Famous for its Tiepolo Ceilings) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Wurzburg, Germany (Famous for its Tiepolo Ceilings) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696 – 1770) decorated Balthasar Neumann’s (1687 – 1753) Baroque Residenz Palace in Würzburg with frescoes meant to elicit awe.  Man was not the measure of things in Baroque art; Heaven was, and the representative of heaven on earth was the Catholic Church.

The Residenz Palace, whose construction Neumann oversaw from 1720 to 1744, was built for the Prince-Bishop Johan Philipp Franz von Schönborn (1673 - 1724).  The interior decoration was finished by 1780 with Tiepolo working a total of three years on the project. 

Tiepolo painted a grandiose fresco of the four continents over the monumental stairway by Neumann, but it is the Kaisersaal with its fresco of the ceiling opening to the sky that draws the eyes and spirit upward.  Figures appear to float aloft by being wider at the bottom than at the top.  Atmospheric perspective plays a part in this illusion as well with blues in the sky becoming fainter towards the center of the oval ceiling.

A series of guest rooms and antechambers is open to the public without having to take a tour.  Tapestries, tall faience stoves, and beds with curtains all served to heat the guests.  One room called The Green Room shimmered from having green paint coated over silver backing.   Wood mosaics in a circular, floral design covered the floor in this room.

Outside these rooms were before-and-after photographs of the March 16, 1945 bombing of Würzburg.  The furnishings and paneling of the palace rooms had been removed prior to the bombing, but after just 22 minutes, the Residenz frescoes and moldings had become rubble along with most of the town.

Rebuilding after such a loss is long and arduous, but it illustrates why the beauty of Europe endures.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Laurent Paget Photography

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Visiting France's Rococo City of Nancy, France with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting France's Rococo City of Nancy, France with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget 

Nancy’s Place Stanislas preserves sixteenth century gilt ironwork gates and fountains along with five pavilions in the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site for its citizens and visitors alike.

The Polish king Stanislas Leszczynski (1677 – 1766) was the father-in-law of French King Louis XV (1710 – 1774), whose title Louis Quinze is what the French refer to as the swirling Rococo style.  King Stanislas had lost his kingdom and set about embellishing his new home, making Nancy always amenable to the new and beautiful.

Place Stanislas today is a pedestrian-only area and host several restaurants in its historic pavilions.  My husband Laurent and I ate at Les Césars, which occupies a corner on one of the pavilions.Nancy, a main city in the Lorraine region of France, is famous for its cuisine.  We began our meal with a quiche Lorraine before eating rump roast cooked medium-rare.  We ended our meal with yellow mirabelle plum tarts that prompted me to purchase Gastronomie en Lorraine: Historie, terroir, et traditions for a modest 7.90 Euros published by Est Republicain (www.estrepublicain.fr) at a newspaper shop.

It was difficult to leave the Les Césars restaurant, which is just as beautiful inside as it is outside.  When we left the restaurant, we immediately found ourselves in the old town by the Ducal Palace built in the thirteenth century.  An equestrian statue is built into the façade of the Palace and makes one think of festive dining when dukes and knights would come and go.

At the end of the street where the Ducal Palace stands is the Porte de la Craffe built in the thirteenth century as well.  Across the street from this gateway was Nancy’s Math and Physics High School built in the undulating art nouveau style.  The swirling curves of the Place Stanislas may have made Nancy a natural home for accepting the nineteenth century Art Nouveau style.

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

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Visiting Augsburg, Germany - home of the Fugger Bankers in Augsburg, Germany with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Home of the Fugger Bankers in Augsburg (Germany) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Once tourists discover the Bavarian city of Augsburg outside Munich they often come back to visit again as my husband Laurent and I have done on several occasions.  Augsburg’s architecture is Renaissance with an imposing town hall (Rathaus) and Perlachturm bell tower.

Augsburg was the financial center of Europe at the end of the fifteenth century when the Fugger family in the person of Jakob Fugger the Rich (1459 – 1529) was banker to Carlos V (1500 – 1558) of the Hapsburg Empire.  The Fuggers first became wealthy in the woolens industry and then set up banks to finance their businesses.

These banks gradually extended their businesses to lending operations outside the family. The Fuggers were much like the Florentine de Medici family, who started in woolens and ended up as the bankers of Europe as well.

The Fuggers also set up the Fuggerei, which is a low income housing complex for Catholics.  In return for living quarters, the Catholics in the home pray for the Fuggerei’s founders to this day as part of their lodging agreement according to the Guide Michelin.

The speed of life in Augsburg is fast.  Even on weekends during summer, pedestrians rush to outdoor cafes in throngs on the streets.  Germans like to congregate outside, talk, and laugh it seems.  After cold, wet, and dark winters, this love of the sun is understandable.

Children appear to be happy in Augsburg.  The town boasts a puppetry museum and puppet theatre.  One day when we visited, a concert was taking place in the town hall.  At the end, we saw one of the young musicians rush out with a cello attached to her back.  She ran smiling to her parents full of creative adrenalin no doubt.  That is the image I will forever hold of Augsburg in my mind.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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