Würzburg History

On May 1st, 704, Würzburg ("Vurteburch") was first mentioned in an official document. Therefore, the year 704 is regarded as the foundation date of Würzburg - although there already was a Celtic refuge camp on the "Marienberg" around 1000 A.D.

In the year 689, the three Irish missionaries Kilian, Totnan and Kolonat came to the Franconian Duchy and wanted Duke Gosbert convert to Christianity. Three years later, they were murdered by the wife of Duke Gosbert. The murders, however, were only discovered many years later, Kilian, Totnan and Kolonat became saints and Würzburg a pilgrimage city.

In 742, Würzburg became bishopric and St. Bonifatius founded the first diocese with Burkhard as the first bishop. From then on, the bishops who were secular as well as religious rulers with their seat at Marienberg Fortress, had enormous power - which quite annoyed the citizens. In 788, the first dome was built.

In the 14th as well as in the 15th century, uprisings took place which caused a political instability of the city. Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn who was prince-bishop from 1573 to 1617 put this instability under control and turned Würzburg into a center of Counter Reformation.

Between 1626 and 1630, under the rule of the prince-bishop Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg, Würzburg became the center of witch hunting and many witches were burnt. In 1631, Würzburg was taken by the Swedish King Gustav Adolf and the Marienberg Fortress destroyed to some extent.

In 1720, Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn put the architect Balthasar Neumann in charge of designing a new palace for him in the city. Although the construction works took quite long and were only finished in 1744, the "Residenz" became one of the most impressive and beautiful palaces of baroque style in Southern Germany and was made UNESCO world heritage in 1981.

The ecclesiastic rule was ended in the year 1802; one year later, Würzburg became part of Bavaria, was made seat of the Dukedom of Würzburg by Napoleon in 1805 and passed to Bavaria again in 1814. Only three years later, it was appointed capital of the district of Bavaria that was named Lower Franconia in 1837.

At the end of the 19th century, in 1894, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, Würzburg's most famous scientist, discovered the X-ray and received the Nobel Price for physics in 1901 for this discovery.

In 1934, Würzburg already had more than 100,000 citizens.

During the Second World War, on March 16th, 1945 - the horror day of the city that is documented in the Grafeneckart now - 90% of Würzburg were destroyed in a severe bombing and many people died. The extensive reconstruction works took about 25 years.

The 1300th anniversary of Würzburg was celebrated in 2004.