page_title: Schönborn family
section_title: Baroque architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Schönborn family / Baroque architecture
context_page_description: The Schönborn family is a noble and mediatised formerly sovereign family of the former Holy Roman Empire.
  Various members of the family have held high offices of the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire over the course of centuries, including as bishops, prince bishops, cardinals and prince-electors. In addition to several family members having been elected rulers of ecclesiastical principalities — the Electorate of Mainz, the Princely-Bishopric of Würzburg, the Princely-Bishopric of Worms, the Princely-Bishopric of Speyer, the Electorate of Trier, and the Princely-Bishoprice of Bamberg — the family possessed a fief in Franconia that held imperial immediacy as a county within the Holy Roman Empire, the state of Schönborn.
  The House of Schönborn, especially its ruling prelates of the Roman Catholic Church, were among the most important builders of Southern German baroque architecture. The family gave the name Schönbornzeit to an era, sometimes nostalgically remembered in the popular consciousness as an era of prosperity. Today, the term Schönbornzeit denotes a particular style of Rhenish and Franconian baroque.
context_section_description: The House of Schönborn, especially its ruling prelates of the Roman Catholic Church, were among the most important builders of Southern German baroque architecture. While the private estates, at a large part still today owned by the family, were of more modest size, sometimes of elder origin, churches, monasteries, ecclesiastical residences and hospitals built by the Schönborn bishops were of immense grandness and splendor. Financing these was only possible with flourishing economies, which the Schönborn bishops did their best to uphold and enhance. Their famous court architect Balthasar Neumann was responsible for many of these buildings, others were Johann Dientzenhofer, Maximilian von Welsch and Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt. The family gave the name Schönbornzeit (Age of the Schönborns) to an era (1642–1756), sometimes nostalgically remembered in the popular conscience as an era of prosperity. Today, the term Schönbornzeit denotes a particular style of Rhenish and Franconian baroque.
  The ecclesiastical residences were owned by the church, and continued to be inhabited by successive bishops, while the private estates remained inheritance of the family. They were mostly acquired by the ruling prelates' brothers. Of the grand bishops' palaces, only Weissenstein Palace at Pommersfelden continues to be privately owned by the family, as it was built, from 1711, with an initial amount of 100.000 guilders which were personally granted to elector Lothar Franz by Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, in reward of his services and his continuous political support. It contains the largest private baroque art collection in Germany.
caption: Balthasar Neumann (1687–1753), architect to 4 Schönborn bishops
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