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
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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| Laurent Paget Photography |
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