WHAT IS IT? 

Hundreds of royal palaces and castles have been preserved around the world as memorials to the history and sometimes the opulence of European royalty or Oriental rulers. Several of the most notable ones were the work of Ludwig II, the king of Bavaria, who became obsessed in the 1860s as a young king with building castles and outfitting them with artistic treasures, fine craftsmanship, and rooms dedicated to various legendary figures. By the time of his removal from office in 1886, he had renovated, built, or begun construction on seven different palaces or royal residences across his realm. The most impressive and popular one is the Neuschwanstein Castle located near the small Bavarian town of Schwangau, Germany above three picturesque lakes and beneath the Alps. 

WHY DID KING LUDWIG BUILD PALACES?

Some people believe that Ludwig built these showpieces to prop up the power of his kingdom after Bavaria became dominated by the Prussian Empire and eventually absorbed by it. But King Ludwig had little interest in the affairs of state or being a ruler. Instead, he became obsessed with creating a fantasy world inspired by legendary figures such as King Louis XV of Versailles, Crusader knights, and Wagnerian opera characters. In any event, his extravagant spending put his realm and his family into debt. King Ludwig II was deposed by the Prussians in 1886, declared to be insane by a committee of German doctors, and confined to a palace at Lake Starnberg near Munich. He died almost immediately afterwards under questionable circumstances at the age of forty. Nevertheless, his legacy and the grand castles he designed quickly became a top tourist attraction. The castles came to embody the fairytale castles depicted in modern movies and Disneyland.

WHAT YOU WILL SEE AT SCHLOSS-NEUSCHWANSTEIN 

King Ludwig II grew up with an affinity for the mountains and lakes near Schwangau. His father, Maximillian II, built a Gothic style summer palace and hunting lodge on the foundation of a medieval castle near the town in the 1830s called Scholl Hohenschwangau. Known for its yellow color, four turrets or towers, and wall paintings, Ludwig’s familiarity with this castle and the area led him to build his own grand castle halfway up an adjoining hill at a location with a commanding view of Hohenschwangau and the lakes and plains of the region. 

A visit to Schloss Neuschwanstein should be planned since more than 1.5 million people visit the Castle each year. The Castle can be viewed from several locations around the town, but most people book a group tour of the inside courtyards, porches, and ornate rooms. Tours take place every five minutes and should be booked in advance. The only ways to reach the elevated castle are to take the castle bus to a platform near the castle and walk a short distance to the entrance, take a small horse drawn wagon to the entrance, or walk uphill to the entrance. Plan on the round trip to the castle taking about an hour. Once inside the castle, there are 352 more steps to climb up or down on the tour. 

The most interesting places to view the Castle, its surroundings, and the close to twenty courtyards and rooms within its five stories are the following:

View the Countryside from the Castle’s Outer Courtyards- Visitors to the Castle with tickets are first admitted to a series of courtyards outside of the main castle to wait for their timed tour to begin. From these locations, you get a sense of just how tall the castle is. There are also several platforms which provide views of the green countryside and the distant lakes below. 

View the Castle and the Gorge from the Marien Bridge- A popular place to view the Castle and the deep Pollat Gorge is to visit the metal Marien Bridge which spans the gorge at a height of almost three hundred feet above the water. The bridge is usually quite crowded, and it requires an additional fifteen-minute walk to reach the cliff above the Castle and enter the bridge. 

See the Throne Room- The fifty-foot-high throne room was not fully completed and was never intended by King Ludwig to be used as a public reception room. Instead, the Throne Room’s brightly colored designs and paintings reflected the idealized relationship that King Ludwig believed connected all rulers to God and connected himself to six past canonized kings from Europe. The many paintings and mosaics in the room show Jesus and the twelve apostles handing down Holy Laws to the people, St. George fighting against the evils of the world as represented by a fierce dragon, and distinct types of earthly animals. Notwithstanding these elaborate scenes, the sixty-foot-long room is laid out with some pomp and circumstance including a large gold-plated chandelier in the shape of a crown and marble steps leading to a raised platform where presumably a throne would have been placed if the room had been completed. 

See the King’s Bedroom- The King’s Bedroom is mostly known for the outstanding oak carvings and woodworking throughout the room which include the ceiling and the frame and canopy of the King’s bed. The large bed was built to accommodate the six feet, four-inch-tall King who had become quite corpulent and sickly by the time he was building the castle. Paintings in the room depicted scenes from Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde. The room also featured Royal Blue tapestries embossed with the King’s coat of arms which included both a swan and a lion. Ironically, it was in this room that the King was declared insane and removed from the castle to confinement at Lake Starnberg.

Experience the Singers’ Hall- The Singers Hall was the most important room in the Castle for King Ludwig II. He based its design and layout on a banquet hall and singers hall previously built at a castle in Wartburg, Germany. The finished product has been admired by many people. The wood flooring, angled ceilings, marble columns, and dramatic lighting provided the King with considerable pleasure although it was never used for music concerts until the 1930s. The gilded ceiling chandeliers and tall candelabras throughout the hall contained several hundred candles and make for unique lighting effects. Today, Castle Concerts with classical music are held annually in the courtyard of the Castle as a reflection of the importance of music to King Ludwig. 

Other Rooms at the Castle-   There are many other rooms in the castle that are usually included in a tour. Some are quite unique such as the grotto and winter garden which is an artificial stalactite cave with an illuminated fountain. Even the King’s living room and dressing room have large paintings, bookcases, and chandeliers in them. The Castle was also built with “modern” conveniences for the times such as a central heating system and running water in the wash basins and water closets. 

INTERESTING FACT

Only thirty miles away from Schloss Neuschwanstein near the village of Ettal is another of King Ludwig’s famous palaces called Schloss Linderhof. In 1874, Ludwig decided to remodel a cottage there which had originally been used by his father King Maximillian II into a private residence. This bright white palace features rooms modeled on the style of the Palace of Versailles with the usual gilded paneling, paintings, and tapestries that Ludwig enjoyed having around him. This palace has some attractive gardens and included three small cottages outfitted in different themes such as a Morocco House and a house dedicated to Swan Lake. Linderhof is frequently combined with Neuschwanstein on tours of the area.

WHEN TO GO HERE

Since the Castle is in the Bavarian Alps, snowfall and frigid conditions are quite frequent from early November into late March. Although the Castle can be quite beautiful during these months, the temperature rarely rises above freezing, the roadway up to the Castle can become slippery or impassable, and services in the area will be limited. The opposite is true during the summer months from May to August. During these months, temperatures will rise to around 70 degrees most days and reach 80 degrees on some days, and tourist services will be readily available. However, the site will be crowded virtually every day. For these reasons, the ideal months to visit the Castle are September and October when crowding is reduced, rain is infrequent, and temperatures generally rise into the sixties during the day. 

HOW TO GET HERE 

The nearest airports to the Castle are in Memmingen, Munich, and Zurich, Switzerland. Some people travel to Schloss Neuschwanstein as part of a bus tour from Munich. Others will drive there which takes about 90 minutes from Munich and one hour from Memmingen. It is also possible to take a train from Munich to Fussen, and then a bus to the village of Schwangau below the Castle.