What to see inside the Würzburg Residence
The staircase and its ceiling first, because everything else in the building is arranged around them. Then the White Hall, then the Imperial Hall, then the Mirror Cabinet. Then out through the Court Church, which is free and which many visitors walk past without realising they are allowed in.
The staircase
An unsupported vault of eighteen by thirty metres, twenty-three metres high at the crown, painted underneath by Tiepolo in 1752 and 1753 over what the palace administration gives as around 600 square metres. It is the room people come for and it is the first one you meet. Everything about it, including whose superlative is whose, is on Tiepolo’s staircase ceiling.
The White Hall and the Imperial Hall
Both are on the short list of what survived the air raid of 16 March 1945, along with the Vestibule, the Garden Hall and the Staircase, all of them with their roofs destroyed. That list is worth carrying round the building, because it is the difference between a room that has been here since the 1740s and a room that was put back between 1945 and 1987. Both are true of this palace and the second is true of most of it.
The Imperial Hall is the room the winter half-day listing names in its own description, alongside the staircase, when it says what its guided visit covers. It is the one interior in the catalogue that any listing commits to in writing.
The Mirror Cabinet
It is not on the survivors’ list. Nothing in the operator’s account of 16 March 1945 includes it among the rooms that came through, and the reconstruction of this building ran for forty-two years, so this site does not describe the Mirror Cabinet as original. What it is instead is a demonstration of what that reconstruction was capable of, which is a different and slightly stranger thing to stand in.
Ask your guide which rooms are on the surviving list and which were rebuilt. It is the single question that changes how the whole interior reads, and the tour that answers it is already in your ticket — see the guided tours page.
The Court Church, and the museum nobody mentions
The Court Church costs nothing. The operator says so in as many words: the admission to the Court Church and the Court Garden is free. It is inside the same building and it is not inside the ticket, because it does not need to be.
The Martin von Wagner Museum is in the south wing at Residenzplatz 2, Tor A, entered from the courtyard beside the Court Church, and it is also free. Antiquities Tuesday to Saturday from 10 to 1.30, picture gallery Tuesday to Saturday from 1.30 to 5, the two collections alternating on Sundays week by week. A university collection in a UNESCO palace, at no charge, and most visitors leave without knowing it is there. It has a page of its own: what costs nothing here.
Seeing it with somebody
The state tour is included and takes about thirty minutes. If you want the outside of the building explained as well — the square, the façade, the town it sits in — that is what a booked walk is for, and one reviewer of the standard walking tour put its value neatly: “Die Tour hat uns sehr gut gefallen! Es wurde sehr viel Wissen vermittelt und Sehenswürdigkeiten gezeigt, die man alleine wohl nicht gefunden hätte. Ein großes Lob an unsere kompetente, liebenswürdige und charmante Stadtführerin. Wir waren begeistert .” — Birgit, Germany, on Würzburg: Guided Walking Tour. Sights she would not have found alone, is the claim, and that is the honest case for a guide in a city like this one.
Includes entryWürzburg in winter: Residence, Old Town and mulled wine
The standard walkWürzburg: Guided Walking Tour
Wine on the bridgeWürzburg Old Town Tour with Wine Tasting on the Alte Mainbrücke
How long all of it takes is on how long you need inside, and whether it earns the ticket is argued on is it worth it.
Frequently asked questions
What is there to see inside the Würzburg Residence?
The staircase under Tiepolo’s ceiling, the White Hall, the Imperial Hall and the Mirror Cabinet, then the Court Church, which is free. The admission ticket covers the staterooms and entitles you to join a guided tour through them; the details are on the tickets page.
Which rooms survived the war?
The Vestibule, the Garden Hall, the Staircase, the White Hall and the Imperial Hall came through the air raid of 16 March 1945 with their roofs destroyed. Reconstruction of the rest ran from 1945 to 1987, which is set out on the 1945 raid and the rebuilding.
Can you see the Court Church without a ticket?
Yes. The operator states that admission to the Court Church and the Court Garden is free. So is the Martin von Wagner Museum in the south wing, on its own weekday time slots. All three are covered on what costs nothing here.