Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn began the Residence after winning a court case worth 600,000 florins. The foundation stone was laid on May 22, 1720, the whole shell was finished in December 1744, and the interiors were done by 1780. The plan has a base of 302 by 548 feet (92 by 167 m) and about 400 rooms. Balthasar Neumann, the court architect, handled mainly the town front and the main staircase. Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt shaped the garden side.
The staircase spans a vault of 59 by 105 feet (18 by 32 m) with no pillars. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo painted its ceiling fresco in 1752 and 1753. It covers about 6,200 square feet (580 m²), the largest continuous ceiling fresco in the world, and shows the four continents.
A British raid on March 16, 1945, nearly burned the palace out, and restoration ran from 1945 to 1987. UNESCO listed it in 1981.
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