Banz

High above the right bank of the Main, near Staffelstein, is the palatial Benedictine monastery of Banz. Begun by Johann Leonhard Dientzenhofer in 1695, the massive rectangular complex was completed by the addition of a gatehouse wing by Balthasar Neumann. The magnificent twin-towered church, built by Dientzenhofer in 1710-19, has a richly decorated interior, with stucco ornament and ceiling paintings, and a high altar by Balthasar Esterbauer (1714). Notable features of the conventual buildings are the Abbot's Chapel and the Imperial Hall. There are also a small Egyptian collection and a collection of fossils from the local Jurassic rocks.