Würzburg, capital of the Bavarian province of Lower Franconia, in a beautiful valley on both sides of the Main, 70 miles SE. of Frankfurt by rail. Among the public buildings the most distinguished are the Episcopal Palace (1720-44), one of the most magnificent royal residences in Germany, and the spacious and excellently fitted-up Julius Hospital (1576), the university buildings, the town-hall, &c. The fortress of Marienberg, built on the site where Drusus founded a castle, is situated on a hill 400 feet high, on the left bank of the Main, and was till 1720 the episcopal residence. Of the numerous churches the most worthy of notice are the richly decorated cathedral, which was rebuilt in the 11th and following centuries, with beautiful chapels and monuments of the bishops; the Marien-kapelle, one of the most beautiful monuments of old German art, with fourteen statues of the 15th century; the university church; and the Neumünster Church, containing the bones of the Irish patron saint of Würzburg, St Kilian, and of Walther von der Vogelweide. In front of the Julius Hospital there is a bronze statue of the founder, Bishop Julius, who also in 1582 founded the university (an older one dating from 1403 having had but a short existence). The hospital was put in connection with the university, which has all along kept the medical faculty in high reputation, and promoted the prosperity of the university as a whole. There are 75 professors and teachers and 1500 students—more than half of them medical students. The library has above 100,000 vols. There are also a notable musical school, Catholic seminaries, &c. There are manufactures of tobacco, furniture, machinery, surgical and scientific instruments, railway carriages, lamps, vinegar, wine, beer, and iron. Pop. (1880) 51,014; (1890) 60,844.
Würzburg (Lat. Wirceburqum) was long the capital of a sovereign bishopric of the German empire, founded in 741 by St Boniface, whose bishops held the title of Dukes of Franconia, though in spiritual matters they were under the Archbishop of Mainz. The area of the bishopric was upwards of 1800 sq. m., with a pop. of 250,000. At the peace of Lunéville (1801) the bishopric, like the other spiritual principalities of Germany, was secularised; and in 1803 the greater part of it was conferred on the Elector of Bavaria. In 1805 Bavaria gave up Würzburg to the Grand-duke Ferdinand of Tuscany, and the principality was raised to the dignity of an electorate. But at the Vienna Congress it reverted to Bavaria. The campaign of the Prussian army of the Main ended with an action here in 1866, the fortress being bombarded; and since then Würzburg no longer ranks as a fortified place.
There are guidebooks by Heffner (1871) and Hubert (1882), and contributions to the history of the town and university by Scharold (1819), Oegg (1881), Ulrichs (1878), Wegele (1882), and Cronthal (1888).