Art Pursuits
  

specialists in cultural tours,
study days, short courses and
private views of historic houses

Art Pursuits Study Tour Programme

Franconia
Art and architecture in the land of Albrecht Dürer

21 – 28 June 2008

Day 1 Morning flight with Lufthansa from London Heathrow to Frankfurt/Main. By private coach to Würzburg, capital of one of Germany’s most influential bishoprics, for lunch and a brief visit to the city centre. In the late afternoon continue to Bamberg and your 4* hotel. Dinner in the hotel restaurant.
Day 2 A day in Bamberg on foot to explore this unspoilt city. Walk past the town hall and handsome baroque mansions, and visit the cathedral museum with 1000-year old imperial vestments. The afternoon is dedicated to the magnificent cathedral, combining late Romanesque and early Gothic elements, and embellished with fine sculpture, most notably the Bamberg Rider, icon of the Age of Chivalry. Dinner in a local restaurant.
Day 3

Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber is perfectly preserved with its late mediaeval town walls and half-timbered houses. The town’s main church of St Jakob houses Riemenschneider’s stunning Holy Blood altarpiece. After lunch drive through the idyllic landscape of the Tauber valley to the Renaissance palace of Weikersheim with its fabulous banquet hall and handsome Baroque garden. Return to Bamberg and independent dinner.
Day 4 Bayreuth is home not only to Richard Wagner’s Festspielhaus, but also to great Baroque buildings, from the exquisite opera house to the park and grottoes of the Eremitage, built for Margravine Wilhelmine, favourite sister of Frederick of Prussia. Return to Bamberg via the great 18th-century basilica of Banz and Vierzehnheiligen, embodiments of Baroque stately grandeur and of Rococo delight. Return to Bamberg for dinner in a local restaurant.
Day 5 Coburg, home of Prince Albert, is a hugely imposing little town with the stately Schloss Ehrenburg in the centre and one of Germany’s largest mediaeval fortresses towering high above it. After lunch return towards Bamberg to Schloss Weissenstein, ground-breaking Baroque summer palace of a Bamberg bishop, with superb picture collection. Return to Bamberg and independent dinner.
Day 6 A second day in Bamberg will take us to the baroque bishop’s palace opposite the cathedral with handsome interiors and an excellent picture gallery. The afternoon will be free for you to go on a boat trip on the River Regnitz or to stroll through the cobbled streets with their attractive mediaeval and baroque houses. Independent dinner.
Day 7 All-day coach excursion to Nürnberg, one of the greatest Imperial Free cities and home of Dürer. The town’s handsome Gothic parish churches of St Lawrence and St Sebaldus are richly endowed with mediaeval and Renaissance works of art. In the afternoon sample the treasures of the Germanic national Museum before returning to Bamberg for dinner in a restaurant near the hotel.
Day 8 A second visit to Würburg to admire Balthasar Neumann’s grandiose Episcopal palace, housing magnificent frescoes by the Venitian Gianbattista Tiepolo. After lunch continue to Frankfurt for an early evening Lufthansa flight to London Heathrow.

Please note that at this stage the programme is still provisional. Although we aim at the greatest degree of accuracy from the outset, some details, especially the order of visits, may be subject to change. Click to close window Click to print window