King Ludwigs Castle – All Three of Them!

Most likely you have heard of King Ludwigs Castle – probably all three of them. When you hear that term, you are hearing an inference to King Ludwig II of Bavaria and to what people call King Ludwig’s Fairy Tale Castles.

The three castles that king Ludwig built are notorious for a couple of reasons. For one, King Ludwig II was seemingly always in a dream world, obsessed with medieval German tales and fantasy stories, as well as castles. Also, because he spent so much money building three castles that for all practical purposes, he never really spent much time living in. Because of all the money he spent on these castles, King Ludwig was accused of making Bavaria go broke, even though the truth was that he spent his own fortune (money passed within his family) and not Bavaria’s.

Schloss Linderhof

The only one of King Ludwig II of Bavaria’s castles to actually be finished, the construction of it began in 1870 and was finally completed in 1879. Many would say that this palace is over decorated to the point of distraction.

King Ludwig was obsessed with King Louis XIV of France and visited the palace of Versailles during his lifetime. You will find evidence of the kings obsession in all of his palaces, and Schloss Linderhof is no exception. Said to be crafted after Petit Trianon in France, Schloss Linderhof, although the smallest of the three of King Ludwigs castles, is certainly no disappointment.

Schloss Herrenchiemsee

Modeled after King Louis XIV ‘s Castle of Versailles, Herrenchiemsee was on its way to becoming a magnificent masterpiece when King Ludwig II of Bavaria died. As soon as the king perished, all work on the castle ceased. The gold plating that can be found throughout the finished portion of the castle is said to be quite thing – a result that can be blamed on the financial troubles that King Ludwig struggled with increasingly until the time of his death. Putting aside the fact that only 20 rooms of the “New Versailles” were finished, this castle is magnificent with it’s beautiful statues, gardens and fountains meant to mirror Versailles (on the exterior), and the stately bedrooms, moving dining tables, and bathtub that includes an entire room on the inside.

Schloss Neuschwanstein

As the inspiration for Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” castle, Neuschwanstein is an awe inspiring living fairy tale castle. Even though King Ludwig II’s intent was to build a medieval knight’s castle, the fairy castle took on the architecture of neo-Romanesque.

The same as Herrenchiemsee, only 20 or so rooms were finished in Schloss Neuschwanstein. The rooms that were finished, however, are worth the huge sums of money that it no doubt required to build it. The inside is decorated with scenes from Wagner’s operas, a byzantine throne room, and an entire room that looks like a cave-like grotto. You can almost feel the strange loneliness that the King felt when he built is dream palace.

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