If I were a princess, this is the castle I’d want to live in. It’s no wonder Walt Whitman designed Cinderella’s castle with inspiration from the Neuschstein Castle; it’s BEAUTIFUL!
We are actually staying in Munich, so we took a tour from there. Our tour guide, Anna, was so passionate and so informative about Ludwig II, the mastermind behind every little detail of the castle.
Ludwig II grew up lonely. Lots of his diaries said that all throughout his life, that he was lonely. Growing up, he was told he was king by “God’s grace”, and that’s the mindset he always had. He wasn’t really told no nor had any disciple. He grew up in Hohenschwangau Castle, which is right by the Alps Lake. This castle is decorated inside all cozy. This castle is thought to have inspired him, as he was a more artistic person who enjoyed opera, writing, painting, etc.
His father died when Ludwig II was 17/18 years old. He didn’t really want to be king, but because he was chosen by God’s grace, he decided to be the best he could be. He met up with Belveda prime ministers, but had no real power. He was mostly there to just sign papers. He lived in the neustein area. But he visited to Munich a lot.
A guy in Prussia wanted to join Prussia with Belveda and Austria. Belveda was in between the 2 countries, so it was important for them to join together. Well war broke out between Prussia and Austria, and Ludwig II had to choose a side. Prussia was armed with weapons and a good military, while Austria was more about peace. Ludwig II chose to side with Austria because they connected more with his peacful, artistic side. And Belveda lost - badly - for the first time ever bc he didn’t choose to side with Prussia.
The guy from Prussia guy knew he wanted to join Prussia and Belveda together. He decided to take control of Belveda’s military, but give unlimited money to Ludwig II for him to finish his projects (his castles). Because Ludwig had run out of money to work on his projects, he decided to sign the papers. And that is how Germany was created: because their king wanted to build his castles.
Ludwig II was so humiliated with his choice and losing a war that he locked himself in Schwangau, the town where Neuschstein was built. He still signed papers, but never had any discussion or opinion about politics. He had thrown himself into his work - writing diaries and working on his castles. He built 3 castles in his lifetime.
Only one was completely finished in his lifetime - Linderhof Palace.
The other castle was Herrenchiemsee. He sent architects to Paris to redraw Versailles. They came back 4 years later, and built an exact replica of Versailles. There are even portraits of French kings in it! He didn’t redesign this castle to fit him or Germany; it’s an exact copy.
But his pride and joy was Neuschstein Castle. He would tear down and completely rebuild sections of his castle if it wasn’t absolutely perfect. Once the castle was completed, he only ended up spending 3 or 4 nights in this castle before dying.
There are theories as to why he died. Because he was spending so much time and money on this castle, people thought he had gone insane. A doctor interviewed some townsfolks and heard their stories about Ludwig II, and declared him to be crazy. Ludwig II was arrested shortly after, making this the first time the doctor had actually met Ludwig II. The doctor quickly realized he was not crazy, just lonely. One night after dinner, the two of them took a walk by the water. They never returned; they both ended up drowning. It's said that the doctor had died first - so did Ludwig try to kill him and then escape (and failed by drowning too)? Were they both drunk and ended up in the water? Did the doctor try to drown Ludwig, they fought, Ludwig won, but was too tired to get back to shore? We may never know.....
Check out the full gallery from this day here.
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