Welcome everyone! Today I'm going to whip out my historian Anna outfit (or costume... either works) and talk about some history. And not just any type of history either - this is some German history. (Two of my favorite school subjects mashed into one wonderful item.) I'm going to be talking about a famous castle in Germany called Neuschwanstein.
Neuschwanstein Castle (Schloss Neuschwanstein in German) is a castle in southern Germany. And when I say southern, I mean if it was fifteen miles more south, it would be in Austria. I found a short video with a few interesting facts about the castle that you can watch, then I'll get a little more in depth about the history. This video has some sweet pictures, so you can envision the castle.
As it mentioned in the video, Schloss Neuschwanstein was built by King Ludwig II. He was born in 1845 on August 25 (which was just last Friday). He became king of Bavaria after his father's sudden death in 1864. Since Bavaria was a constitutional monarchy, Ludwig didn't have much political power. He instead embarked on three place building projects in 1868.
The three castles: Schloss Neuschwanstein, Schloss Linderhof, and Schloss Herrenchiemsee, are all very grand buildings. Look up pictures if you have time. They are gorgeous. Needless to say, these immense projects were very expensive. By 1885 (seventeen years after the projects had begun), Ludwig had amassed a personal debt of 14 million marks (I'm not sure how much this is in American dollars - but I'm guessing a lot). This put a massive strain on the Wittelsbach fortune. (Ludwig was part of the Wittelsbach dynasty.)
Doctors were commissioned to analyze the behavior of the recluse king. Dr. von Gudden led them, and they diagnosed the king with paranoia and declared him insane - without even examining Ludwig! Ludwig was arrested and taken to Castle Berg on the shores of Lake Starnberg. The next day, just before midnight, the bodies of Ludwig and Dr. von Gudden were found in the lake. The truth of the cause of Ludwig's death is unknown to this day.
So King Ludwig II built Neuschwanstein. It is the most famous of the three castles (mentioned above) and was Ludwig's crowning achievement. As mentioned in the video, Walt Disney took inspiration from this castle when designing the castle in Sleeping Beauty, which also later became the Disneyland castle.
Also mentioned in the video, Richard Wagnar's music was used often to help design the castle. His opera Tannhauser inspired the Byzantine-style throne room, which was drawn from plans for the original stage set for the opera.
Other notable rooms include the bedchamber (modeled after the nupital chamber in Lohengrin), which is the room mentioned in the video that took fourteen carpenters over four years to carve; the grotto, which once had a running waterfall that was lit by tinted lights; and the singer' hall, Ludwig's favorite room. It was modeled after the stage design for the Forest of the Holy Grail in Wagner's Parsifal and designed for the best acoustics.
That's all I have on Neuschwanstein. I hope you learned something (I did just researching it)! Thanks for reading, have a great week, and I'll see y'all next Monday! :)
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