Interiors considered masterworks of Baroque/Rococo or Neoclassical architecture and art include the grand staircase, the chapel, and the Imperial Hall.

Since 1981, the Residence has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its outstanding Baroque art, design, and architecture.

[2] The Prince-Bishops of Würzburg resided in the Marienberg Fortress on a hill west of the Main river until the early 18th century.

Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn (1719–24) moved the court to a palace erected in 1701–4, the predecessor of the Residence.

[1]: 52  Having won a sum of 600,000 florins (a fortune at the time) in a court case in the year of his accession, he used the funds to undertake a building project that would proclaim his political standing to all.

In 1750, Lorenz Jakob Mehling, a merchant at Venice, sent Giovanni Battista Tiepolo to the bishopric residence, after the painter Giuseppe Visconti had failed.

[4] Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, assisted by his sons, decorated the Imperial Hall and the ceiling above the staircase with frescoes in the early 1750s.

[3] Under Prince-Bishop Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim (1755–79), Materno [de] and Ludovico Bossi created the stucco-work decoration over the staircase and in the first and second guest rooms of the northern Kaiserzimmer (Imperial Apartments) between 1769 and 1772.

[1]: 52  A Neoclassical double bed and bedside tables were installed in the sleeping room of the northern Imperial Apartments for him and his wife Marie Louise in 1812.

The wrought-iron gates across the Cour d'honneur, which had effectively separated this inner area from the large Residence Square, were demolished in 1821.

From the attic the fire ate down through wooden ceilings and floors, and all the furnishings and wall panelling which had not been stored elsewhere were devoured by the flames.

Much of the furnishing and large sections of the wall panelling of the period rooms had been removed in time and thus escaped destruction.

In the Court Chapel, for example, most of the ceiling frescoes by Byss succumbed to the subsequent consequences of the fire, in spite of the intact vault, and had to be laboriously reconstructed.

According to the Advisory Body Evaluation, the inclusion in the List was a "measure... so clearly desirable that the proposal of the Federal Republic of Germany does not require lengthy justification...

It represents a unique artistic realization by virtue of its ambitious program, the originality of creative spirit and the international character of its workshop.

It lacks the lower mezzanine floor (see below) but sports a large balcony above the three portals accessible from the Weisser Saal (White Hall).

The Hofkirche (court chapel) is completely integrated into the western part of the southern wing and barely distinguishable from the outside.

[1]: 54–5 This fresco, the largest in the world,[1]: 55  created from 1750 to 1753 by Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo shows paintings of the four continents: Europe, America, Asia and Africa.

[7] There is also a picture of the Prince-Bishop with Mercury approaching from Olympus while Apollo launches the sun horses, surrounded by incarnations of the stars.

Neumann originally wanted to add a second staircase on the other side of the White Hall, but this was vetoed by the Prince-Bishop's advisers due to the costs involved.

The Weisser Saal or White Hall in Rococo style was the audience chamber and is dominated by the stucco decorations of Antonio Bossi.

[1]: 55  The white stucco works on a light gray background are composed of a large quantity of rocailles, mixed with images of real items, especially of military purpose.

[1]: 56 The walls of the Imperial Hall consist of stucco work marble in shades of red, white and yellow.

The dome is painted in white colour, decorated with golden stucco work and also frescoes by Tiepolo, showing an idealized history of the diocese of Würzburg.

On top of the dome a painting shows the Brautfahrt: Apollo in the sun chariot leads the bride Beatrix surrounded by Venus, Ceres and Bacchus towards the Emperor Frederick II, who is accompanied by the Bishop of Würzburg.

The side altars are based on designs by Hildebrandt and were painted in 1752 by Tiepolo (Assumption of Mary to the south, War in Heaven to the north).

Bossi was also responsible for the colourful stucco work on the ceiling (1735) and with painters Högler and Thalhofer created the frescoes in the domes (1735–6): martyrdom of the three Franconian apostles Kilian, Totnan and Kolonat (over the choir), Coronation of the Virgin (in the centre) and War in Heaven (above the organ).

Johann Peter Alexander Wagner added putti, vases, urns and two monumental sculpture groups, the Rape of Europa and the abduction of Proserpina, sited in the central axis between the Orangery and the southern pavilion of the Residence.

It also honours Major John Davis Skilton, a "Monuments man" of the U.S. Army who was instrumental in preserving many of the art treasures after his arrival at Würzburg in June 1945.

[9] Most of the rest of the residence is occupied by the Martin von Wagner Museum (moved here in 1963) and organizations of the University of Würzburg.