For the first weekend of April, we had decided way in advance to do a weekend trip and visit a few towns and cities in Bavaria. Little did we know that the day we left it started snowing, at the beginning of April! After leaving Berlin in the early morning we reached the city of Bamberg on a fast train. Once there we got off the train, exited the station, and headed on to visit the old town which now was quite covered in snow. Bamberg's old town is inscribed in the Unesco world heritage list due to its medieval layout and its well-preserved historic buildings. The first monument we reached was the church of St Gangolf set on a lovely small square lined by baroque and neoclassical buildings, a typical sight in the whole city as we would discover throughout the day. The church is considered the oldest one in the city dating originally to the 11th century but its current form is due to centuries of refurbishments. The two twin towers date to the 12th century with early baroque hoods while the interior features a mix of baroque, rococo, and modern styles. Particularly noteworthy was the 18th-century rococo altar with golden decorations. After visiting the church we then continued on our walk and crossed a bridge over the right arm of the Rignitz river. Along the way, we also admire some nice timber-framed houses until we reached the Grüner Markt, a nice elongated narrow square which at that time featured a nice little market. On the square was the church of St Martin which we then visited. This catholic church was rebuilt during the 17th century when the Jesuits move there and features a nice baroque facade in fact modeled on the Jesuit church of the Gesù in Rome. Inside were some nice baroque altars, typical of Bavaria and southern Germany, and a false dome frescoed by Giovanni Francesco Marchini based on plans by Andrea Pozzo. Once outside the church, we continued through the square passing by the nice Neptune fountain and reaching then another bridge, this time much older, which crosses the left arm of the Rignitz river. In the middle of the bridge, separated by the river from the rest of the town was the beautiful Altes Rathaus, the old town hall. The Prince-Bishops, who ruled over the city from the 13th century to 1802, had amended a law that prevented the citizens of Bamberg from erecting a town hall in the territory. So the citizens smartly erected it in 1387 on an artificial islet in the middle of the river, on the boundary between the episcopal and the civil powers. The building was then expanded and refurbished during the 15th century in a Gothic style and then later again between 1744 and 1756 when it took its current baroque and rococo aspect with frescoes on the facade refurbished then in the early 1960s. After admiring the beautiful building we then continued on through the picturesque narrow streets of the old town filled with timber-framed houses and other elegant baroque and neoclassical buildings. We also passed by the Schlenkerla, a historic brewery and pub dating back to 1405 and in operation since then which produces the famous Rauchbier, or smoked beer. Bamberg is in fact known for its many breweries scattered around town, some of which are centuries old, and for being one of the most famous beer-producing cities in Franconia, the historical region in the northern part of Bavaria. Moving on we then passed by the small church of St Elisabeth, which was closed, and then started ascending a hill to reach some of the city's main monuments. Bamberg is in fact built on seven hills and is thus considered Franconian Rome. At the top of the hill, we then reached the large Domplatz where the Cathedral, the Alte Hofhaltung, and the Neue Residenz are set. We first started out by visiting the Cathedral, founded in 1002 by King (and later Emperor) Henry II, and after the first two buildings burned down it was rebuilt in its current late Romanesque form in the 13th century. The cathedral is about 94 m long, 28 m broad, and 26 m high, and features four towers at its corners which are each about 81 m high. With the tombs of Henry II and his spouse Cunigunde, the cathedral contains the remains of the only imperial couple that was canonized and with the tomb of Pope Clement II, it also contains the only papal grave in Germany, and north of the Alps. Like many other cathedrals in Germany, also the one in Bamberg features two choirs, one at each end, east and west. The eastern one is the oldest part of the cathedral, still in pure Romanesque style while the western one is in early Gothic. Once inside we marveled at the immense size and beauty of the religious monument which held many gothic altars including one from the early 16th century by the famous Veit Stoss. We also saw the tomb of Henry II and his wife Kunigunde made several centuries after their death, at the end of the 15th century. Next to the tomb, on a column at the beginning of the western choir, we then admired an equestrian statue known as the Bamberg Horseman. This 13th-century statue was created by an anonymous sculptor and is thought to represent a German emperor but most probably the Hungarian king Stephen I. It is considered the first monumental equestrian statue since classical antiquity. We then also saw part of the crypt from above as the stairway down to it was closed but some openings below the choir made it possible to peer through. After the visit to the Cathedral, we then headed back out into the square and admire the building from the outside including its beautifully carved portals, one of which, the Prince's Portal depicted the Last Judgment with Christ in the middle as the judge of the world and on one side the damned with painful smiles carried off in chains by the devil. Next up we then visited the Alte Hofhaltung which consists of former residential and farm buildings of the episcopal court, which were built in the 15th century on the site of Emperor Henry II's palace but used since the 11th century by the Bamberg Bishops. The complex now holds the city's historical museum which was still closed and would only open from mid-April. We nonetheless admired the nice courtyard surrounded by wooden timber-framed buildings making up the palace. The complex was used by the Bishops until the early 17th century when the prince bishop Johann Philipp von Gebsattel decided to build a residence on the other side of the square. This residence was then expanded at the end of the 17th century in its current impressive baroque style making it the best and most beautiful example of that style in the city. The building now hosts the state library and the state gallery which we then visited. It contained several artworks of old German European Baroque painters including Lucas Cranach the Elder, as well as the historical rooms of the palace dating mostly to the 18th century. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed inside but we still enjoyed the tour. One room that we could photograph was the large Kaisersaal, or Emperor's Hall, on the second floor which is one of the most important late Baroque artworks in Franconia. It was decorated around 1709 with portraits of 16 emperors and four ancient empires at the four corners, the Assyrian-Babylonian, the Persian, the Greek-Macedonian, and the Roman. After visiting the museum and residence we then also walked through the pretty rose garden, a baroque garden part of the complex which overlooks the old town granting a great view. From there we then continued our walk and ended up at the church of St Jakob not far from the palace. One of the oldest in the city, it originally dates to the high middle ages and features a baroque facade with a rather simple interior but still features a late Gothic choir. Walking then up another one of the city's hills we then reached the large complex of the Michaelsberg Abbey. A former Benedictine monastery it is one of the most important religious buildings in the city and was probably established during the 11th century. Its current aspect is mostly Romanesque, in the interior, with the main nave and facade rebuilt in the baroque style after it was damaged in a fire in 1610. Unfortunately, the church was closed as it was apparently still under refurbishment since 2016 and hadn't reopened since. We decided though to reach the Restaurant Café Michaelsberg, located at the back of the church on the terrace overlooking the city, and have lunch there. Ania had a curry lentil soup while I had a Thuringian bratwurst in broth. I then also took a Rauchbier, the famous smoked beer from the city which is produced in the well-known Schlenkerla brewery mentioned earlier. It was really tasty and fit perfectly with the food. After lunch, we then decided to admire the view from the terrace in front which granted a beautiful panorama of the old town from above. Many rooftops were still covered in snow and we could see right below the terrace the vineyards which are grown here and around the city. From there we then decided to walk outside of the city to the south passing through some lovely suburbs with large and probably expensive villas until we reached a forest and a hill we had to once again climb. On top of it, we then reached the Altenburg, a castle dating back to the 12th century and overlooking the city from afar. The current building is a reconstruction from the 19th and 20th centuries which aimed at restoring how the castle must have looked during the middle ages. As we walked through the nice courtyard where a restaurant is now located we then climbed the battlements from where we had a great view of the city center in the distance and the surrounding hills, forests, and landscape around. After that, we then decided to walk back to the old town and on the way found a few more panoramic spots from where to admire the city. Walking for a little while we then entered the old town once more and passed by the Carmelite Monastery whose church, St Mary and St Theodore, was open. Rebuilt in a baroque style at the end of the 17th century over a pre-existing Romanesque one it currently features two facades, the western one which used to be the original one with a tall bell tower, and the eastern facade with a beautiful baroque style. The interior held some nice wooden altars with golden fittings. A little further on we then reached another church, the church of Our Lady known as the Obere Pfarre. This high Gothic three-aisled monument featured a tall slender tower and a beautiful interior in a Baroque style. The choir was particularly noteworthy with the rich baroque ornamental forms of marble and gold of the main altar and on the southern nave the painting of the Assumption of Mary by Jacopo Tintoretto. Right close by, on the top of another of the seven hills of the city, the Kaulberg, was the 17th-century baroque protestant church of St Stephan, which due to its denomination featured a very simple and empty interior. From the church, we then continued our walk passing by some beautiful baroque and neoclassical buildings and some more old timber-framed houses until we reached the old town hall once again. Here we walked along the riverfront admiring the nice collection of houses on the other side of the water which is known as Klein Venedig, or Little Venice, the name given to a former shipping and fishing settlement on the Regnitz river. Of Venice, it had no similarity or trace but it was still nice to see. After that, it was time for us to head to the station and catch our train to the next town Kulmbach. On the way there, we had to switch to the small town of Lichtenfels, and as we had 20 minutes to wait I decided to visit its old town quickly. I first passed under the Bamberg Gate, a surviving medieval city gate part of the old town walls, and then reached the large central square, the Marktplatz where the baroque town hall was set. To the east, a little further up the street was the 16th-century late gothic church of Assumption of the Virgin Mary and the Kronacher Torturm, the upper and other medieval city gate with its tall tower. After that round through the old town, I headed back to the train station and took the train which eventually led us into Kulmbach. Once there we got off the train and headed on to visit the old town on foot. Once there we walked along the main street admiring the nice architecture consisting of many nice timber-framed houses but noticed how dead the town was despite the fact that it wasn't even 5pm yet. All shops were closed and not many people were around, a typical sight in rural Germany even among mid-sized towns. We then reached the Marktplatz, the town's main square, with the art nouveau late 19th century Luitpold fountain at its center, and where the beautiful rococo town hall built in 1752, is located. Continuing onwards we then reached the town's main church, the Petrikirche, originally a Gothic structure but later refurbished in the neo-gothic style at the end of the 19th century. From the church, we then started our ascent of the hill that overlooks the town where the impressive Plassenburg is located. This impressive fortress is considered one of the largest and most important in the country. First mentioned during the 12th century, it was then expanded before being destroyed in 1554 at the end of the second Margravian war. It was then rebuilt as an impressive stronghold and as a huge palace, the most representative of the Renaissance style. A combined Bavarian and French army under the command of Jérôme Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, besieged the Plassenburg in 1806. Just four years after, Kulmbach became Bavarian and the castle was used as a prison and as a military hospital. Today, it is a museum and a venue for cultural events. Once we got there, we, unfortunately, found it has just closed, as it was just past 6pm, but we nonetheless managed to visit the impressive courtyard and the outer area with a wonderful view of the town below and the surrounding countryside despite the gray damp weather. After enjoying the view we then walked back downhill to the town, passing by another of the town's medieval structures, the so-called Red Tower which goes back to around 1300 and was part of the old town fortifications. Not far from it we then reached another part of the old fortifications, the White Tower, built in the 14th century but its present appearance is from the 17th century. From there we then continued on through the rest of the old town, passing by the Spitalkirche built in a baroque style at the end of the 17th century before reaching once again the main square. It was then time for us to head back to the train station from where we took the last ride of the day that brought us to the city of Bayreuth. Once there we walked through the city center in order to reach our accommodation, the Apart Hotel FirstBoarding, which was located on the southern end of town. Here we checked in and had dinner inside our room as it contained a little kitchen before then heading to bed. The following day I woke up early and left Ania in the hotel to sleep a little longer while I headed on to visit a museum. On the way there I first passed through the Hofgarten, the garden of the New Palace, now a public park. Next to it, I passed by the Franz Liszt Museum, hosted inside the Hungarian composer's house in which he died, and the Haus Wahnfried, where Richard Wagner lived from 1874 to 1883. At the end of the park, I then reached the Neues Schloss, a grand palace built in 1753 after a fire in January of that same year had largely destroyed the previous residence, now known as the Altes Schloss. This was the seat of the margraves of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Friedrich III, and Wilhelmine of Prussia and was used until the early 19th century when the German Empire was dissolved by Napoleon. Nowadays the palace features a nice museum which I visited as soon as the doors opened at 9am. I was the first one there and managed to enjoy all the rooms without anyone else and undisturbed. I saw the nice historical rooms with neoclassical and empire-style furniture and decorations. Then on the ground floor, in the wing known as the Italian Building which was erected in 1759, I went to see a couple more rooms that featured a small art gallery with paintings mainly from the dutch landscape movement of the 17th and 18th centuries. The rooms were really striking and all with amazing stuccoes including a circular room with a gazebo and flowers which looked real and a room all made up of sea shells in the shape of a grotto. After the visit to the museum I met up with Ania and we then headed together to see the city's main attraction, the Margravial Opera House. Built between 1745 and 1750, this Baroque opera house is one of Europe's few surviving theatres of the period and has thus been inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List. To visit it we joined the only English-speaking time slot and it was just the two of us plus another two visitors. After purchasing the ticket the lady showed us inside and a short movie introduction was shown on stage detailing the history of the building. Then we had around 15 minutes to look around and take pictures before heading out again as the next group would enter. The opera house featured an amazing late baroque wooden interior designed by Giuseppe Galli Bibiena and his son Carlo from Bologna which was commissioned by Wilhelmine who was highly gifted in music and the arts and also wrote librettos and composed and played music. The building was inaugurated on the occasion of the marriage of Elisabeth Fredericka Sophie to Duke Charles Eugene of Württemberg. After visiting the opera house, we headed out and decided to explore the rest of the town. We first stopped by and visited the Stadtkirche, a late Gothic building from the beginning of the 17th century as it replaced an older church destroyed by fire in 1605. The interior was quite simple and empty but still nice. From there we continued walking through some nice streets and alleyways and passing by another church, the Spitalkirche, a mid-18th century baroque building that had a mass going on so we decided not to stay and visit. Right in front of the church was a square that looked like a wide long street that featured two baroque fountains at each end of it. At the end of the street on the eastern part of the old town, we then reached the Altes Schloss, which served as the residence of the Margraves of Brandenburg-Bayreuth from 1603 to 1753 before the construction of the New Palace. As the building suffered damage by fire both in the 18th century and during an air raid in WWII it doesn't have much left from its ancient past but its facade was restored to how it would have looked during the baroque period. Today it features a nice courtyard and building exterior and houses the city's tax office. Next to it is also the octagonal tower which once served as a defensive structure and since 1960 became the bell tower of the nearby 18th-century neoclassical castle church. It was then time for us to go to the train station where we then took a ride to the next and last city on our weekend trip, Coburg. Located on the northern end of Franconia and thus of Bavaria, it is known for being one of the capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Its ruling princely family married, through successful dynastic policies, several of the royal families of Europe, most notably in the person of Prince Albert, who married Queen Victoria in 1840. As a result of these close links with the royal houses of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Coburg was frequently visited by the crowned heads of Europe and their families. After getting off the train and leaving the train station we then headed on foot through the city center, entering the old town by passing under the nice medieval 13th-century city gate, the Judentor, with an onion-shaped baroque dome from 1721. From there we followed the main street which brought us to the city's main square, the Marktplatz, surrounded by beautiful buildings. One of them was the town hall built in 1577 and another was the Stadthaus, the city's best-known renaissance building. From the market square, a short walk brought us then to the Morizkirche, the town's oldest and main church. As it is a protestant building its interior didn't hold much particularly striking, apart from the 13 m high Renaissance alabaster epitaph for Duke Johann Friedrich II from 1598. The exterior of the church, in a late 15th century Gothic was, though, worth admiring. Continuing on our walk we then reached another large square, the Schlossplatz, closed by the elegant neo-gothic early 19th century Ehrenburg Palace which served as the main Coburg residence for the ruling princes from the 1540s until 1918. Queen Victoria's parents grew up there as it was home of the Ducal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. From the square, we then started the ascent of the Hofgarten the public park which extends between the Ehrenburg Palace and the Veste Coburg and was once the landscape park of the latter. At the end of the park on top of a hill overlooking the city was the Fortress which we intended to reach. After a bit of walking uphill, we reached the fortification, considered one of the largest and most well-preserved medieval fortresses in the country. After reaching the fortress we passed through the first set of bastions, separated from the rest of the complex by a moat, which we then crossed on a bridge that took us then through the second set of medieval walls. Once inside we reached the courtyard which was freely accessible and then headed to one of the buildings to purchase the tickets to visit the interior. Once inside we visited the many rooms containing nice old objects from different countries. The whole fortress obviously suffered refurbishments and restorations throughout its existence with renaissance and baroque additions between the 16th and 18th centuries and a whole neo-gothic makeover between the 19th and 20th centuries. After that, the fortress was restored to its medieval aspect but many rooms still featured the older styles. Among the many rooms were also the Lutherzimmer, where Luther lived and worked in 1530, and the beautiful Hunting Room a fully decorated wooden room from 1632 with intarsia on the wall depicting hunting scenes. We also passed some rooms containing nice paintings including some examples by Lucas Cranach the Elder, and a whole room filled with glassware with one of the world's largest collections of Venetian glass art from the 16th and 17th centuries second only to the one in Venice. We then also saw some rooms dedicated to weaponry and armory with some interesting pieces and another room filled with elegant carriages from the 18th and 19th centuries and sleds of all kinds with beautiful decorations. After visiting the museum, we then walked through the courtyard admiring the size and architecture of the fortress and after that decided to walk around its perimeter once more before heading back downhill and into the city. After one last stroll through the old town, we then decided to look for a place to have dinner before leaving the city. We chose a Thai restaurant called Ban Thai where we had a nice meal. It was then time to leave and after reaching the train station we eventually took a train back to Berlin.
No comments:
Post a Comment