Johannisburg Palace

Built between 1605 and 1614 for the archbishop-electors of Mainz in red Main sandstone, the palace is a square block with four corner towers and was one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Germany before being gutted in 1944; reconstruction ran into the 1970s. It holds the largest collection anywhere of architectural models in cork, made from the 1780s onward by Carl May and his son as scale reproductions of Roman monuments, the material chosen because its texture reads convincingly as weathered stone at small scale. A separate building nearby, the Pompejanum, is a replica Roman villa built for Ludwig I in the 1840s.

What you actually see

• The cork models - Roman monuments reproduced in cork at scale.
• The sandstone block - a square Renaissance palace with four towers.
• The Pompejanum - a replica Roman house built in the 1840s nearby.
• The Main terrace - the palace front above the river and vineyards.

When to go

April to October; the Pompejanum closes for winter while the palace stays open with reduced hours. Both close Mondays. Allow half a day for the pair.

Honest expectations

Most of the palace is postwar reconstruction. The Pompejanum is closed for several winter months. Aschaffenburg is otherwise an ordinary working town.

Nearby

Miltenberg lies upriver; Frankfurt is northwest.