page_title: Marienberg Fortress
section_title: Today
hierarchical_section_title: Marienberg Fortress / Today
caption_attribution_description: English: A panorama view of Würzburg from the Marienberg Fortress gardens.
context_page_description: Marienberg Fortress is a prominent landmark on the left bank of the Main river in Würzburg, in the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. The mighty Fortress Marienberg is a symbol of Würzburg and served as a home of the local prince-bishops for nearly five centuries. It has been a fort since ancient times. Most of the current structures originally were built in Renaissance and Baroque styles between the 16th and 18th centuries. After Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden conquered the area in 1631 during the Thirty Years' War, the castle was reconstructed as a Baroque residence. After it ceased to serve as residence of the Bishops of Würzburg, the fortress saw repeated action in the wars of the late 18th and 19th centuries. Festung Marienberg was severely damaged by British bombs in March 1945 and only fully rebuilt in 1990. Today, it houses two museums.
context_section_description: Today, Festung Marienberg is mostly accessible to the public. This includes the Scherenbergtor (gate), the Burgfried (keep), Saint Mary's Church and the well house.
  Since 1946, the Baroque Zeughaus (armory), originally built 1702-1712 but reconstructed after being destroyed in 1866 and 1945, houses the Museum für Franken, formerly the Mainfränkisches Museum, a collection of Franconian works of art from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period, including world-famous Gothic sculptures by Tilman Riemenschneider. There is also a collection of earlier artefacts from Franconia, stretching back to the paleolithic period. Founded in 1913 as Fränkisches Luitpoldmuseum in the town, the museum's previous location was destroyed by British bombers in March 1945. In 1950-1954, the Echterbastei (also damaged in the bombing) was rebuilt and the museum expanded into this part of the fortress.
  The Fürstenbaumuseum in the Fürstenbau (palas) of the fortress, established in the 1930s (originally as two museums), offers a stroll through 1,200 years of Würzburg's history. It features the Bibra Stairs and apartments, and the Julius Echter apartments. These do not contain the original furnishments (either lost in the Swedish sacking of the castle or transported to the new Residenz in 1720), but period pieces. There are also exhibits of ecclesial treasures as well as on the history of Würzburg and the fortress.
  There are also two restaurants in the fortress.
caption: View of Würzburg from the Marienberg Fortress gardens
exif: {"Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ArcSoft Panorama Maker 5", "Image DateTime": "2014:02:07 00:09:56", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "230", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "42036"}