Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: Upper Franconia

Schloss Weißenstein (Castle Weissenstein) looks for me more like a palace. This palatial residence is a masterwork of Franconian baroque architecture. It is considered being one of Germany’s most beautiful baroque buildings. In 1710, Lothar Franz von Schönborn, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg and Archbishop of Mainz, inherited the estate after a local family had died out. He ordered the construction of a palace as a private summer residence. He employed some of the best known architects of that time to construct a building of European importance. The palace was built between 1711 and 1719 from local sandstone material. During the Seven Years' War (1756 - 1763) the palace was attacked and damaged by Prussian troops. Minor restoration work was done in the late 19th century. More recently, preservation work has been done in 1975 to 2003. After the death of Lothar Franz in 1729, the palace passed to his nephew Friedrich Karl von Schönborn who had the park expanded. In the early 19th century, the park was converted into an English landscape garden. Weissenstein is still the property of the Schönborn family. Weissenstein Palace has a fully fully furnished interior and a splendid staircase. It has the largest private baroque art collection in Germany with more than 600 pictures, including work of Peter Paul Rubens, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, Rembrandt and Anthony van Dyck. The castle can only be visited within a guided tour.

The Bamberg Cathedral - officially the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. George ( Bamberger Dom St. Peter und St. Georg - is a late Romanesque building. The church founded in 1002 by emperor Heinrich II and dedicated on May 6, 1012, the birthday of the emperor. Two fires in 1081 and 1185 destroyed huge parts of the original building. The entire northern part was rebuilt; the church became its present late-Romanesque form in the 13th century. The cathedral is about 94 meters long, 28 meters broad and 26 meters high. The four towers are each about 81 meters high. Personally I found the interior quite sober, although it has a couple of treasures. One of the highlights is the tomb of Heinrich II and his wife Kunigunde (PiP1). Another treasure is the Bamberger Reiter (Bamberg Horseman); an equestrian statue full of mysteries (PiP2). No one knows who the figure is, although it is said that he is Stephan I of Hungary, who was said to have ridden to the cathedral to be christened Pope Clemens II is buried in the Bamberg Cathedral. He was the local bishop before he became pope in 1046, but he died in 1047. Bamberg Cathedral is the site of the only papal burial outside of Italy and France. The dedication of the cathedral was also the foundation of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bamberg. The cathedral has been the seat of the Bamberg Archbishop ever since - by now for more than a thousand years! (The main picture shows the so called Princes’ Portal ( Fürstenportal ), located in the centre of the north wall. It is used only on holy days. )

The (former) Cistercian abbey in Ebrach was founded in the year of 1127 by a nobleman Berno and was the oldest and most important of its kind in Franconia. The abbey was settled by twelve monks from Morimond Abbey in Burgundy. The first church was dedicated in 1134. Throughout the centuries the monastery has endured wars, fires and looting. In the Thirty Years War (1618 – 1648) it lost its precious church treasure, which was captured by the Swedes. It was not until the 17th century that the economy improved. The abbey was dissolved during the secularisation in 1803 and the properties were transferred to Bavaria. The abbey church became the local parish church of Ebrach. The construction of the present abbey church started in 1200, after which the consecration took place in 1285. The church unites many architectural styles: the building is early Gothic in style, the interior is mainly in baroque style with elements in rococo -, renaissance - and classicist style. Particularly striking is the colour scheme in yellow and white - the Catholic colours - mixed with light pink. Columns in marble style, ornaments, reliefs and figures in white, the beautiful play of light and the large rose window (see: www.ipernity.com/doc/cammino/47482756 ) give the church a special look.

Rabenstein Castle ( Burg Rabenstein ) lies in the heart of Franconian Switzerland, nestled on a rock high above the valley of the river Ailsbach. It is situated along the so called (famous) “Castle Road’, which connects more than 90 castles in Germany. The castle was first mentioned in the year of 1188. The castle owners changed many times over the centuries and the original building was reconstructed, extended and redesigned. The castle came - after 300 years - again into the ownership of the Rabensteins in 1557. Daniel von Rabenstein let it be redesigned into a three-winged Renaissance complex, which was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648). After he lineage died out in 1742 the castle was bought by the counts von Schönborn. On the occasion of a visit of the Bavarian King Ludwig I and his wife the half ruined complex was restructured into a baroque castle in 1830. The estate remained in the possession of the counts von Schönborn until 1975. In 2004 the property was bought by a commercial company and nowadays it houses a 22-room hotel. The castle is also used for events, conferences and weddings. Parts of the castle can be visited by a guided tour.

Seehof Palace ( Schloss Seehof ) was built from 1686 as a summer residence for the Bamberg Prince-Bishops. The palace is often Marquardsburg after its founder called Marquard Sebastian von Schenk von Stauffenberg. This Prince-Bishop loved the rural area around Memmelsdorf , about 5 km’s from Bamberg. He ordered the Franconian builder Antonio Petrini to replace a local estate with a baroque palace. Lothar Franz von Schönborn, elected Prince-Bishop of Bamberg in 1693, designated an area of 21 ha of land with adjacent lakes and forests to be made into gardens. The palace hill was reshaped into precise terraces and the gardens divided into six large sections. During the 18th century, the palace garden was one of the most famous Rococo gardens in Germany After secularization - early 19th century - it fell into disrepair and by the end of the 20th century extensive renovation work was necessary. Among the features reflecting the splendour of the former garden are the restored cascade with its waterworks and some of the original sandstone sculpture. Nowadays most of the building is occupied by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection. But nine restored rooms of the Prince-Bishop’s apartment are open to the public; the spacious gardens and fountains can be visited free of charge.

Franconian Switzerland ( Fränkische Schweiz ) is a well known tourist area between the cities of Nürnberg, Bayreuth and Bamberg. The region is a natural wonderland featuring soft rolling forested hills, steep cliffs and green river valleys. It is a backdrop for medieval castles, monasteries, churches and quaint villages with half-timbered houses. One of the most picturesque villages is (at least for me) Tüchersfeld, where it looks if the houses are dropped at random at the rocky pinnacles. Until the Thirty Years' War (1618 – 1648) there were even two castles in the village, the Upper and Lower Castle. From the Upper Tüchersfeld Castle only a view remains have survived. The Lower Castle was destroyed and rebuilt several times, till it was completely destroyed in 1691. Around 1700 a Jewish settlement was established in the remaining ruins. The Jewish settlement was destroyed by fire in 1758, but the remains of the old buildings were included in the newly constructed buildings. Till around 1870 Jewish families lived in Tüchersfeld. In 1959 the remaining buildings, known as the "Jew's Court" ( Judenhof , were bought by a private person and after a complete restoration it now houses the Franconian Switzerland Museum ( Fränkische Schweiz-Museum ).

It is said that already in 1071 a chapel have stood on the place of the present basilica. In 1240 the chapel was converted into a spacious church dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The earliest official mention of a church in Gößweinstein however can be found in 1308 in the will of Gottfried von Schlüsselberg. The Schlüsselberg family is considered to be the founder of the first church, which became a pilgrimage church. The medieval church – although expanded several times - was soon unable to cope with the many pilgrims. A new and much bigger church was built (1730 – 1739) during the reign of Prince-Bishop Friedrich Carl von Schönborn of Bamberg by the famous architect and builder Balthasar Neumann. He designed the floor plan, a Latin cross, and created what has come to be considered a baroque masterpiece. The magnificent art depicting biblical stories on the walls and ceiling inside the church was not complete until 1768 and it is quite breathtaking. There are also several highly decorated altars around the church. The basilica is one of the most important pilgrimage churches in Germany. Especially in the spring and fall of each year, thousands of religious pilgrims come to the basilica to pray before the Gnadenbild , the basilica’s Statue of Mercy. The church was elevated to a Basilica minor in 1948 by Pope Pius XII.

There is quite a story - don’t know if it is true - around the construction of the old town hall (,i>Altes Rathaus): the bishop of Bamberg refused to allocate land to the city’s residents for the construction of a town hall. This prompted the townsfolk to ram stakes into the river Regnitz to create an artificial island, on which they built the town hall they wanted. The town hall was built in 1386, originally influenced by Gothic, it became Baroque and Rococo elements in the middle of the 18th century. The murals on the exterior walls were painted by Johann Anwander. The frescoes never fail to impress as they lend the facades a three-dimensional quality achieved with trompe d'oeil architecture. The combination with traditional timber framing makes the building unique. For a good reason the old town hall is Bamberg’s landmark and (most probably) its most photographed building. Today the building houses a museum with the so called Ludwig Collection.

Bamberg - first mentioned officially in the year 902 - is built on seven hills and calls itself ‘Franconian Rome’. The city has a well preserved historical centre; for its historical architecture and preserved heritage, the whole old town of Bamberg is since 1993 listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Without any doubt Bamberg is a gem among German towns with its medieval appearance. One of the most picturesque parts is so called ‘Little Venice’ ( Klein Venedig ). It became its name from King Maximilian I (1848 -1864). Fisher- and boatmen lived closer to the Bamberg Dom before they moved to the banks of the river Regnitz in the 14th century. That time the area was an island, named Abtswörth. Originally the houses were built in the water on stilts. In the past the galleries were used for patching and drying nets and the boats could drive directly into the open basements. In the 19th century a shore area has been created, which today is transformed into small picturesque gardens. Nowadays the former fishermen’s district consists of a row of quaint houses along the river Regnitz, standing side-by-side with their balconies and small front gardens. If you are lucky you might see a ‘real’ gondolier rowing tourists.