Marienberg Fortress

The hill has been fortified since the Iron Age, and the prince-bishops of Würzburg lived here from 1253 until they moved down to the Residenz in 1719. Inside the walls stands the Marienkirche, a round church built about the year 700, one of the oldest surviving churches in Germany. The fortress was converted into a bastioned artillery fortification in the seventeenth century, and a bombing raid in March 1945 gutted it; rebuilding took decades. The Fürstenbaumuseum covers the bishops' city, and the Museum für Franken holds Tilman Riemenschneider's wood sculptures. Vineyards climb the slope between the fortress and the river.

What you actually see

• The round church - a Marienkirche of about 700 inside the walls.
• The bastioned defences - seventeenth-century artillery works.
• The Riemenschneider sculptures - late Gothic limewood figures in the museum.
• The vineyard slope - terraces running down to the Main and the old bridge.

When to go

April to October; the walk up from the old bridge through the vines takes about twenty minutes. Museums close Mondays and keep shorter winter hours.

Honest expectations

Much of the fortress is postwar reconstruction after 1945 bombing. The climb is steep. The two museums have separate tickets and hours.

Nearby

Würzburg's Residenz lies across the river; the Main flows below.