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|Bundesland: Freistaat Bayern||Bavaria|
Würzburg is situated at an elevation of 209 m on the river Main and is the capital of the administrative region Unterfranken of Bavaria. Around 1000 BC the Marienberg was the location of a Celtic stronghold. Around AD 650 it became the seat of a Frankish dukedom. The Franks were converted to the Christian faith by the missionaries St. Kilian, Kolonat and Totnan, who were martyred in Würzburg in 689. The bishopric of Würzburg was founded in 742 by St. Boniface. The secular power of the bishops over the dukedom was confirmed in 1168 by Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa. The famous carver and sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider was elected burgomaster in 1520. The university was founded in 1525. During the Thirty Years' War (16181648) Würzburg was occupied in 1631 by the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf. The famous residence palace of the prince bishops was built in 17201744 in splendid Baroque style by Balthasar Neumann. After the secularisation of 1803 Würzburg at first was awarded to Bavaria, which exchanged it with Tyrol and other territories after the Peace of Pressburg (Bratislava, SK) in 1805. Between 1806 and 1814 the territories of Würzburg were ruled by Ferdinand III, who had been ousted as Grand Duke of Toscany by Napoleon in 1799 and as Elector had ruled the secularised archbishopric of Salzburg between 1803 and 1805. Ferdinand at first took the title of Elector of Würzburg in 1806 but in the same year changed it to Grand Duke of Würzburg. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815 Ferdinand returned to Tuscany, and Würzburg finally became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1945 the allied air raids destroyed about 90% of the historic town. Luckily, most parts of the famous residence palace had survived. The damages were restored after the war and the residence of Würzburg was listed as a World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO in 1981 (see also list of other UNESCO heritage sites).
The fortress Marienberg [left, no.566: top right] had already been a Celtic stronghold about 1000 BC. The first Lady church on the Marienberg was built in AD 706. The castle keep goes back to the medieval castle and was constructed around 1200. In 1253 the castle became the residence of the bishops and remained so until 1719. After 1600 it was remodelled into a splendid Renaissance residence. After Würzburg had been occupied by Swedish troops in 1631, the castle was fortified by an impressive Baroque fortress.
The old Main bridge [left, no.566: bottom] was built in 1476 and 1543 on the foundations of the previous Romanesque bridge of around 1130. Around 1730 the bridge was embellished by Baroque statues of saints. The middle part of the bridge was blown up in 1945 but was restored in 1950.
The Baroque pilgrimage chapel 'Käppele' [left, no.566: top left] was built in 17481752 by Balthasar Neumann.
Today, Würzburg is not only known as the administrative centre of Unterfanken but is also renowned for its university. Eight members of the university received a Nobel Award: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (physics, 1901), Emil Hermann Fischer (chemistry, 1907), Wilhelm Wien (physics, 1911), Johannes Stark (physics, 1919), Hans Spemann (medicine, 1935), Klaus von Klitzing (physics, 1985) and Hartmut Michel (chemistry, 1988).
Glass no.566 [left] is inscribed "Bundestag 1926 Würzburg" ('federal assembly 1926 Würzburg') on the back. The glass was probably marked
in this way as a souvenir of a national assembly of a sports federation or a similar organisation.