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Schweinfurt Rathaus (town hall) and market square. |
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Church with Adam and eve depicted above the entrance; Schweinfurt market
square and the statue of poet lauruette Friedrich Rückert. |
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Schweinfurt (German for Swine
ford) is a city in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria in the
south of Germany on the right bank of the canalized Main, which is here
spanned by several bridges, 27 km northeast of Würzberg.
Schweinfurt is first documented in the year 791, though as early as 740 a
settlement called Villa Suinfurde is mentioned. The city joined Martin
Luther's Reformation in 1542. It was again destroyed in the course of the
Margravian War, in 1554. In the Thirty Year's War it was occupied. At
some point the inhabitants were reverted to Catholicism. Schweinfurt
suffered from heavy casualties during the Napoleonic Wars of 1796–1801.
Schweinfurt remained a free imperial city until 1802, when it passed to the
Electorate of Bavaria. Assigned to the grand duke of Würzberg
in 1810, it was granted to the Kingdom of Bavaria four years later. The
first railway junction was opened in 1852. In the following years
Schweinfurt became a world leader centre for the production of ball
bearings. This was to lead to grievous consequences for the city during
World War II. In 1939, Schweinfurt produced most of the Nazi Germany
ball-bearings, and factories such as the Schweinfurter Kugellagerwerke
became a target of Allied strategic bombing during World War II to cripple
tank and aircraft production. Schweinfurt was bombed 22 times during
Operation Pointblank by a total of 2285 aircraft. After the war Schweinfurt
became a stronghold of U.S. military and their dependents. |
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Schweinfurt architecture. |
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I arrived exhausted at the Youth Hostel, having SMS'd them earlier at their
request and was given a room all to myself, a touch fortunate for anyone
else, I might add. Lily had told me via e-mail of a YH along the Main,
which, it transpired later, as in fact a Guest House. Lily, bless her, had
arranged for Robert's son
Jörg to contact me to establish whether I
wanted to meet up.
örg suggested via an SMS that the town hall
(Rathaus) was a good bet, thinking that I was at the Guest House not far
away. Luckily I had already showered because looking at the map, it seemed
to be on the other side of the town centre from where I was located, so if I
was to meet in 20 minutes, I had to shift it! I had no idea what Jörg looked
like and unbeknown to me, Lily had told him I had short hair. Well, imagine
his state of confusion when the only person who showed at the rendezvous
point was this long-haired rock star lookalike. We circled one another
tentatively before he boldly made the first move and enquired as to whether
I was in fact who I was. We walked to a wine garden (which was nearer to the
YH!) and I met Jörg's wife Heike and another couple. I ordered würst
and a glass of local wine and tried to adjust to having to speak German
again after so long. A somewhat eccentric waitress, an elderly lady, had
asked me what I desired, and whilst gazing at the menu, I uttered a solitary
"Mmm", to which she replied, "wir haben keine Mmm" (we have no "Mmn").
It began to rain though fortunately we were under shelter.
Jörg went to fetch the car to pick us all up
and I was dropped off at the YH in Niederwermerstraße.
I SMS'd Lily to inform her of my location, to avoid confusion, thereafter
turning in exhausted yet contented for the night. |
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Würzburg Residenz,
a palace designed by several of the leading Baroque architects and
famous as the former residence of the prince bishops of Würzburg; Erika
makes a point to Lily. |
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Fetched at 09h30 by Robert,
Erika and Lily after breakfast the Saturday morning, Lily had taken up Heike
on her offer to take us to
Würzberg for the day. First,
though, Lily and I were dropped off in Schweinfurt town centre to while away
for a few hours. We had so much to talk about that the conversation hopped
from one subject to another haphazardly. Nonetheless, we were having fun and
I wanted to know all the news from Cape Town. The conversation switched to
out previous meeting some years before in 2002, when I had met up with Lily,
Ian, Erika and Robert in Nürnberg
and had behaved really badly, as I had been trying to work through emotional
stuff with a girlfriend at the time. I had hoped that my current state of
mind would allay any fears that Erika and Robert might have had as to how I
would conduct myself this time around. We had a coffee and some cake and
then walked to where Heike and Jörg lived in
Neutorstraße.
We drove in to
Würzberg
and walked through the gardens of the Würzburg Residenz, a palace designed
by several of the leading Baroque architects and famous as the former
residence of the prince bishops of Würzburg. The foundations of the
Residence were laid in 1720. Heike had brought along a guide book and kept
us informed. A wedding couple were in the process of having their
photographs taken in the gardens. We passed Würzburg Cathedral. The first
church on the site of the present cathedral was built as early as 788, and
consecrated that same year by Charlemagne; the current building was
constructed from 1040 to 1225 in Romanesque style.
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View of Würzburg
castle or Festung Marienberg, as it is known; Lunch at the Alte
Mainmühlen on the Alte Mainbrücke. |
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Views of Würzburg
and the Alte Mainbrücke from the grounds of Festung Marienberg. |
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Heike had arranged with
Stefan, a nephew of Robert and Erika, whom I had met in South Africa when he
paid Ian and Lily a visit, was keen to meet up. He seemed happy and
contented and soon to be married. We all met up at the town hall near the
Alte Mainbrücke, the old main bridge that leads into the city of Würzburg,
adjacent to two larger bridges either side of it further along the river
that also lead into the city (Friedensbrücke and Ludwigsbrücke). The great
thing about the Alte Mainbrücke however, is that no cars or trams run across
it, unlike the other two bridges. The Alte Mainbrücke is also the prettiest
and most historically interesting bridge stretching over into the city.
Irish monks Kilian, Totnan and Kolonat brought the christian teaching to
Franconia as far back as the 7th century A.D. Martyred in year 689, the
River Main has reached the halfway point to the Rhine when it flows past
these three Irish saints on the Alte Mainbrücke. We stopped for lunch at the
Alte Mainmühle, a restaurant situated at the end leading into the city. |
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Heike then took us on a walk
all the way up to Würzburg Castle or Festung Marienberg, a prominent
landmark on the Main river in Würzburg, which is the symbol of Würzburg and
served as a home of the prince-bishps for nearly five centuries. It has been
a fort since ancient times. In 704 A.D., the Marienkirche was built atop a
former Celtic shelter, and in the 13th century it was surrounded by the
first fortification. In May 1525, during the Peasant's War (Bauernkrieg), a
peasant army of 15,000 men surrounded the fortification, which was the seat
of the bishop of Würzburg, but could not penetrate the concentric walls
built on a steep incline. When their leader, Florian Geyer, went to
Rotheburg ob der Tauber in early June to procure the heavy guns needed to
attempt to breach the walls, the leaderless peasant army that was camped out
around the castle allowed themselves to be outflanked by a professional army
in the service of the bishop. More than 8,000 peasants were either
slaughtered or blinded on the orders of Bishop Konrad II von Thungen. In
1631, the castle was reconstructed in the Baroque style. |
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In the grounds and
gardens of Festung Marienberg. |
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It began to
rain heavily and we sheltered in the grounds of the castle, before taking in
the view of the city from a vantage point at a garden enclosed by the walls
of the fortress. As we looked down below, the steep embankment leading
virtually down to the Main was covered in vineyards. On the way back, we
stopped at a coffee shop, located on the opposite of the Alte Mainbrücke to
the Alte Mainmühle. We charged back to Schweinfurt in haste, as
Jörg had been preparing a Mexican dinner
to which we had also been invited. Lil's treat were tubs of ice-cream,
purchased at a parlour in Schweinfurt on the way back. It amused us that
Robert and Erika had also joined us, at some protest, it would seem, after
having felt somewhat "overlooked" at the expense of the foreign guests.
Jörg and Heike have a truly beautiful flat,
the 3rd storey of which (where the two kids live) also housing a small sauna
which handyman Jörg kitted out. Jörg is in the window framing
business. |
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Lily and Heike
pose for the photographer in the grounds of Festung Marienberg. |
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