Neuschwanstein Castle in the Allgäu Alps at mucky weather, Hohenschwangau, Swabia, Bavaria, Germany
Some background information:
Neuschwanstein Castle and neighbouring Hohenschwangau Castle are definitely one of the highest attended visitor attractions throughout Germany. While Hohenschwangau Castle is visited by more than 300,000 visitors from all over the world each year, Neuschwanstein Castle is even visited by 1.3 million people annually. Hence, both Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castle have really become a big business. The tourist infrastructure around both castles leaves no touristic wishes to be desired and hence is well-prepared for the rush of visitors that arrives here every day. Well, compulsory visit made, but I for one definitely prefer the hidden gems.
Probably the most spectacular and also most famous view of Neuschwanstein Castle is the one from the so-called Marienbrücke (in English "Mary’s Bridge") overlooking both palace and the surrounding landscape. The Marienbrücke crosses Poellat Gorge right behind Neuschwanstein Castle in a distance of about 100 metres. Usually it’s crowded with tourists and visitors have to queue up to be able to cross the bridge and get a view of the building from there. However, at the time we were there, the Marienbrücke was closed due to problems with its statics. The necessary construction works won’t be completed before autumn 2022, just in case you plan a visit.
Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th-century historicist palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near the town of Fuessen in southwest Bavaria. Like its neighbour Hohenschwangau Castle, it is situated in the Ostallgäu area in the Bavarian region of southern Swabia, directly bordering the Austrian state of Tyrol. The term Allgäu is applied to the northern part of the Alps and their foothills located in southwestern Bavaria. Both castles overlook the Alpsee (in English: "Alp Lake") and the Schwansee (in English: "Swan Lake") with a distant view into the Tyrolean Alps.
The Alpsee, which you can see on this picture, is a lake in the Ostallgäu, located about 4 kilometres southeast of the town of Füssen. It has a shoreline of about five kilometres (3.1 miles) and a depth of up to 62 metres. The German-Austrian border is situated just 450 metres south of the Alpsee. Also south of the Alpsee there’s a spring that feeds the lake. A little subsurface stream drains out of the Alpsee at the north shore, feeding the smaller Schwansee 400 metres north of the Alpsee as well.
The palace of Neuschwanstein was commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria (the so-called "Fairy Tale King") from the House of Wittelsbach as a retreat and in honour of Richard Wagner. While Hohenschwangau Castle was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Neuschwanstein Castle was intended to be his private residence, until he died in 1886. It was opened to the public shortly after his death. Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle.
Hence, the older one of both castles is Hohenschwangau Castle, which was designed by Ludwig’s father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria, in the first half of the 19th century. Neuschwanstein as well as Hohenschwangau Castle have predecessor buildings on the same spots, which had become ruins. The stronghold on the spot of Neuschwanstein Castle was first mentioned in a document in 1090 under the name of "Schwangau", while the stronghold on the spot of Hohenschwangau Castle was first mentioned in 1397 under the name of "Schwanstein". Only in the 19th century, the names of both castles switched.
Neuschwanstein Castle embodies both the contemporaneous architectural fashion known as castle romanticism, and King Ludwig II's enthusiasm for the operas of Richard Wagner. The King saw both buildings as representatives of a romantic interpretation of the Middle Ages, as well as the musical mythology of his friend Wagner, whose operas Tannhäuser and Lohengrin had made a lasting impression on him.
The building design of Neuschwanstein was drafted by the stage designer Christian Jank and realised by the architect Eduard Riedel. For technical reasons, the ruined castle could not be integrated into the plan. Before and during the construction phase, the King insisted on a detailed plan and on personal approval of each and every draft. Ludwig's control even went so far that the palace has been regarded as his own creation, rather than that of the architects involved.
The construction of Neuschwanstein took a rather long time. It began in 1868, but King Ludwig II wasn’t able to move into the palace until 1880. The construction costs in the King's lifetime amounted to 6.2 million marks (an equivalent to 45 million € today), almost twice the initial cost estimate of 3.2 million marks. As his private means were insufficient for his increasingly escalating construction projects, the King continuously opened new lines of credit. Even after his debts had reached 14 million marks, King Ludwig II insisted on continuation of his different private architectural projects, to which also the palaces of Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee belonged.
To realise all his projects, Ludwig was also able to draw on an additional secret income, which he received in return for a political favour given to Otto von Bismarck. This favour was his approval of the imperial coronation of William I, King of Prussia, who was acclaimed German emperor at the Palace of Versailles in January 1871. By doing that, he had to divest himself of many of his royal prerogatives.
Despite its size, Neuschwanstein did not have space for the royal court, but contained only the King's private lodging and servants' rooms. The court buildings served decorative, rather than residential purposes. The palace was intended to serve King Ludwig II exclusively (who never had a wife or children) as a kind of inhabitable theatrical setting. However, it was also dedicated to the life and work of Richard Wagner, who died in 1883 before he had set foot in the building. In the end, Ludwig II lived in the palace for a total of only 172 days.
In 1886, while Ludwig II stayed in Neuschwanstein Palace, the Bavarian government decided to depose the King, who had become more and more divorced from reality. Shortly afterwards, he was also incapacitated and forced to leave his palace. Ludwig was then put under the supervision of Benhard von Gudden, a German neuroanatomist and psychiatrist. On 13th June 1886, both died under mysterious circumstances in the shallow shore water of Lake Starnberg near Berg Castle. Hence, his life ended tragically and the mystery of his death may also have contributed to the personality cult and the popularity, Ludwig has received after his demise.
Today, Neuschwanstein Castle has become a global symbol of the era of Romanticism. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and has also served as the inspiration for Disneyland's "Sleeping Beauty Castle". In 1977, it became the motif of a West German definitive stamp. And in 2007, it was a finalist in the widely publicised on-line selection of the" New Seven Wonders of the World". Even a meteorite that reached Earth spectacularly in 2002 was named "Neuschwanstein". Since 2015, Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee palaces are on the German tentative list for a future designation as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A joint candidature with other representative palaces of the romantic historicism is discussed.
