Saturday 15 October 2016

Der Märchenkönig (Germany)

King Ludwig II was born in 1845 in the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich. After the death of his father, he became King of Bavaria in 1864. He is especially known for building the three palaces Linderhof, Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee and the King's House Schachen, but he was also a big supporter and patron of Richard Wagner and helped him to build his Festspielhaus in Bayreuth. In 1870 he offered Wilhelm I the imperial crown with the Kaiserbrief. In 1886 he was placed under disability and short after this incapacitation he died in an uncleared context in the Lake Starnberg.

King Ludwig II's Dreams in Stone are on the UNESCO Tentative List.


Neuschwanstein Castle was built from 1869 onwards. King Ludwig II wanted to build it as homage to Richard Wagner, but Wagner never entered the castle. He paid for the castle out of his personal fortune and through extensive borrowing, but he died before its finishing. Actually Ludwig II never wanted that visitors enter the castle, but only six weeks after his death the first people visited it. Now more than 1300000 people visit the castle every year.


The King's House on Schachen was built by King Ludwig II between 1869 and 1872. It is the least-known of his buildings. The exterior and the ground floor of the palace are rather modest, but the complete upper floor is occupied by the prestigious Turkish Room, which is decorated in an Oriental fashion. At the palace Ludwig often spent his birthday and namesday.


The Linderhof Palace is the smallest of the three palaces of King Ludwig II and was built between 1870 and 1886. It was the only of three palaces that was finished before King Ludwig II's death and was also the one where he spent the most time.


The Herrenchiemsee Castle is the largest of Ludwig II's three palaces and was built between 1878 and 1886. It was planned as copy of the Palace of Versailles, but when Ludwig II died the palace was not finished. For the castle 5kg of gold foil were used (1g is enough for 1m²!). Today the castle can be visited and also houses the King Ludwig II Museum.


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