Germany's fairy tale castle: Neuschwanstein

[blixel]

From the website: "Neuschwanstein Castle is a nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds. The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886."

Great collection of photos:

http://www.fotopedia.com/reporter/stories/M-fj_sHlcYo

 

[boogabooga]

I had a friend who visited about a decade ago. He said as beautiful as it was on the outside, it was barren and mostly empty on the inside. Kind of a metaphor. Way to go Mad King Ludwig.

Certainly no Versailles.

 

[Urwumpe]

I had so far only seen it from far away... we had often been to holidays in that region, but the long row of tourists waiting to enter the complex was pretty discouraging... and the mountains around the castle are far more beautiful than the castle itself.

 

[N_Molson]

It is actually the model Disney used for their logo.

 

[Andy44]

I had so far only seen it from far away... we had often been to holidays in that region, but the long row of tourists waiting to enter the complex was pretty discouraging... and the mountains around the castle are far more beautiful than the castle itself.

There's something about tourist attractions: people who live closer tend to not visit them. When I moved to the WAshington DC area I visited most of the sights and museums and still do, but people who grew up here often never do it. Same with a friend I knew who grew up near Orlando, Florida; he never visited Disney World until we visited him and talked him into coming with us.

 

[C3PO]

It is actually the model Disney used for their logo.

Too bad it wasn't copyrighted. That would have been fun. :thumbup:

 

[Andy44]

Too bad it wasn't copyrighted. That would have been fun. :thumbup:

The way Disney is, I wouldn't be surprised if they sued Neuschwanstein Castle for retro-actively infringing blah blah blah.

And the great thing is now the Disney castle is full of Stormtroopers and Ewoks...yay....

 

[Linguofreak]

I had so far only seen it from far away... we had often been to holidays in that region, but the long row of tourists waiting to enter the complex was pretty discouraging... and the mountains around the castle are far more beautiful than the castle itself.

I was there back in the summer of '06. There was indeed a line, but before we even got to the line we got hit by a sudden downpour. So being thoroughly drenched is a big part of my memories of that experience.

 

[MattBaker]

So being thoroughly drenched is a big part of my memories of that experience.

Being soaked in water is an experience you shared with King Ludwig.

For the non-(german-)history-guys: King Ludwig II was taken away the power against his will by his uncle because he was "insane". (His brother already was insane, royal families have issues) In reality he probably wasn't insane but had social phobia and anxiety due to being a homosexual (something you wanted your king to be in the 19th century, not). And inspired by romantic ideals, he also funded Richard Wagner, he thought "Let's build a lot of stuff!" including Neuschwanstein and the Bavarian state didn't have endless money, so his uncle tried to take away power from him to save the Bavarian state from going bankrupt and the royal family from being blamed for it.

A couple of days later he and his personal doctor were found drowned and to this date it's unknown if it was done by his uncle to keep him away from regaining power, his doctor, suicide, an accident...

tl;dr: Don't build castles, you'll end up drowned (2nd proof: Frederick I)