MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL ART • ARCHITECTURE • GASTRONOMY • ARCHAEOLOGY • HISTORY • MUSIC • LITERATURE Franconia Art and architecture in Germany’s medieval heartland 20–27 June 2022 (mi 400) 8 days • £2,960 Lecturer: Dr Jarl Kremeier A neglected region of southern Germany which has an exceptional heritage of art and architecture, enchanting streetscape and natural beauty. Medieval art including Romanesque sculpture (the Bamberg Rider) and late medieval wood carving by Tilman Riemenschneider. Baroque and Rococo palaces, churches and paintings, including Tiepolo’s masterpiece. Once the very heart of the medieval German kingdom, Franconia possesses some of the loveliest towns and villages in Germany, beautiful countryside and a variety of art and architecture of the highest quality. Yet remarkably few Britons find their way here – or could even point to the region on a map. Coburg Castle and Park, from Germany, by E T & E Harrison Compton, 1912 Würzburg, with its vine-clad riverbanks and Baroque palaces, is a delight. The tour stays here for two nights. One of the loveliest and Itinerary changed in appearance for hundreds of years; least spoilt of German towns, Bamberg has fine the church of St James has Riemenschneider’s streetscape, riverside walks and picturesque Day 1: Würzburg. Fly at c. 9.30am from Last Supper. Visit Schloss Weissenstein in upper town around the Romanesque cathedral. London Heathrow to Frankfurt (Lufthansa). Pommersfelden, an early 18th-century country Nuremberg, the home of Dürer, was one of the Drive to Würzburg, and check in to the hotel. house with one of the grandest of Baroque great cities of the Middle Ages, and its churches An afternoon walk to the oldest medieval staircases. Continue through lovely landscape and museums are filled with outstanding bridge to survive and visit the Marienburg, to Bamberg. First of four nights here. sculpture and painting. Bayreuth was a centre the formidable fortress dominating the city Day 4: Bamberg. Morning walk taking in the of Rococo culture and a mecca for Wagnerians. from across the River Main. Visit the vast riverside town. Visit the Gothic Church of our The end of the Middle Ages was artistically museum within, with its sizeable collection of Lady with its Tintoretto altarpiece and the one of the most creative in Franconia, with Riemenschneider sculpture. First of two nights splendid Romanesque cathedral with some of Tilman Riemenschneider and Veit Stoss, in Würzburg. Germany’s finest medieval sculpture, including perhaps Germany’s greatest sculptors, evoking Day 2: Würzburg. The Residenz (Prince- the Bamberg Rider, a potent image of knightly the fraught spirituality of the age in works Bishop’s Palace), designed partly by Balthasar values. The Diocesan Museum has outstanding of remarkable virtuosity. The Romanesque Neumann and extended over time, is one of medieval textiles. In the afternoon visit the sculpture in Bamberg’s cathedral is also of the the finest 18th-century palaces in Europe, with Neue Residenz, palace of the Prince-Bishops. highest importance. magnificent halls, state apartments, exquisite The eighteenth century also bequeathed chapel and ceiling frescoes which are the Day 5: Bayreuth. All-day excursion. Bayreuth much artistic wealth. The Prince-Bishop’s masterpieces of the Venetian painter Tiepolo. developed as a minor court city in the 18th palace in Würzburg and the pilgrimage In the afternoon walk around the largely century, and a varietal of Rococo decoration church of Vierzehnheiligen (both designed post-war reconstruction of the old centre, with evolved in the town palace and at the by Balthasar Neumann) are consummate its vast and sombre Romanesque cathedral, Hermitage, a complex of gardens, palaces and achievements of Baroque and Rococo art delicate Gothic church and flamboyant pavilions, under the patronage of the Markgraf. and architecture. Moreover, the greatest Baroque churches. Visit Wagner’s Festspielhaus, built to the achievement of eighteenth-century Venetian composer’s specifications on a hill outside the painting is here: Tiepolo’s ceiling fresco in the Day 3: Creglingen, Rothenburg, town. Würzburg Residenz. Pommersfelden, Bamberg. Drive through gently undulating countryside to the little Day 6: Coburg, Vierzehnheiligen. At Coburg pilgrimage church near Creglingen; here see visit the formidable fortress above the city, The Assumption by Riemenschneider, his now a museum with good paintings and finest work. Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber is an furnishings. Schloss Ehrenburg, in the centre exceedingly picturesque little town scarcely of town was the home of Prince Albert. book online at www.martinrandall.com Telephone 020 8742 3355 MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL Franconia continued Across the valley, the pilgrimage church of Practicalities Vierzehnheiligen by Balthasar Neumann is perhaps the greatest of all Rococo churches. Price, per person. Two sharing: £2,960 or £2,810 without flights. Single occupancy: Day 7: Nuremberg. An immensely rich £3,310 or £3,160 without flights. trading and manufacturing city in the Middle Ages, Nuremberg is girt by massive walls and Included: air travel (economy class) on possesses much art and architecture of the 15th Lufthansa flights (Airbus A319); travel by and 16th centuries. A walk through the old private coach throughout; accommodation town includes the church of St Sebaldus, which as described below; breakfasts, 1 picnic lunch contains outstanding sculpture by Veit Stoss and 5 dinners with wine; all admissions; tips and others, and the Albrecht Dürer House. St for waiters, drivers and guides; all taxes; the Lorenz is the city’s other great church, and is services of the lecturer and tour manager. likewise laden with major artworks including Accommodation. Hotel Rebstock, Würzburg Veit Stoss’s Annunciation (1517/18). (rebstock.com): well-located, comfortable Day 8: Nuremberg. Visit the German National 4-star hotel. Hotel Villa Geyerswörth, Museum, home to the finest collection of Bamberg (villageyerswoerth.de): elegant, German medieval and Renaissance art in the quiet 4-star hotel, conveniently located close country. Fly from Munich, arriving Heathrow to the old town. Le Méridien Grand Hotel, at c. 5.00pm. Nuremberg (lemeridiennuernberg.com): modern 4-star hotel in a late 19th-century building, a 10-minute walk from the centre. Single rooms throughout are doubles for sole use. Lecturer How strenuous? The tour involves a lot of walking in town centres, where coach access Dr Jarl Kremeier. Art historian specialising is restricted, and a lot of standing in museums in 17th- to 19th-century architecture and and churches. A good level of fitness is decorative arts; teaches Art History at the necessary. It should not be attempted by anyone Berlin College of Acting and the Senior who has difficulty with everyday walking and Student’s Department of Berlin’s Freie stair-climbing. There are several long drives. Universität. He studied at the Universities Average distance by coach per day: 55 miles. of Würzburg, Berlin and the Courtauld, is a contributor to the Macmillan Dictionary Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. of Art, author of a book on the Würzburg Residenz, and of articles on Continental Baroque architecture and architectural theory. book online at www.martinrandall.com [email protected].