Key Takeaways
you could thank a mad Bavarian king for the opening credit to everyDisney movie .
Before he build Disneyland , Walt Disney and his wife Lilliantoured Europe , including a occlusive at the magnificent Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Alps of Germany . Disney was so impressed with the skyscraping gun enclosure and column of the faux - Romanesque structure that he used it as the role model for slumber Beauty ’s Castle , the centrepiece of Disneyland and now the ubiquitous logo of Walt Disney Pictures .
But if Disney had recognize the real story of Neuschwanstein ( label Noish - VAN - Stine ) and its " queen - tale king " — an flaky opera fan who was declared a madman before dying under mysterious circumstances — he might have prefer a differentcastle .
Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the most - bring down holidaymaker destinations in Europe , welcomingmore than 6,000 visitorson a busy summertime day . But the man who dreamed up the fantastical castle never intended it to be open to the public . It began as an architectural passion alphabetic character to theGermancomposer Richard Wagner and devolved into a refuge for a reclusive king who lento lost his grip on reality .
A Fantasy Kingdom
King Ludwig II never fit the mold of a stoical monarch . Born in 1845 , he was raise in princely elegance in his father Maximilian II ’s Hohenschwangau ( pronounced " ho - an - SHWAN - gow " ) rook , where the youthful royal " enjoyed dress up … and lead joy in play acting,“according to his mother , Marie of Prussia . From an early age , Ludwig had a pictorial imagination and a dash for the dramatic .
Hohenschwangau , built in 1832 in the Gothic style , was beautify with painting pull from gothic German legends and poetry , and young Ludwig in particular identify with Lohengrin , a fabled knight of the Holy Grail who traveled on a sauceboat pulled by swans .
When Maximillian II died suddenly in 1864 , Ludwig was thrust into power at only 18 old age quondam . Unprepared for any serious political leaders , one of the first things Ludwig did as king was to ask round his musical idol Wagner to come to Munich for an opera house festival . Wagner was also obsessed with German chivalric fable and even wrote an opera reading of the Lohengrin story in 1850 .
Wagner , who was in fearful fiscal strait , eagerly accepted Ludwig ’s invitation , and the untested king became one of the composer ’s principal patrons . When they contact , Wagner did n’t fuck what to make of the otherworldly Ludwig .
" … Today I was brought to him . He is unfortunately so beautiful and wise , soulful and lordly , that I fear his life must fade by like a divine dream in this base world,“wrotethe composer . " you may not imagine the illusion of his regard : if he remain live it will be a capital miracle ! "
Wagner could n’t have predicted it , but just two years after in 1866 , Bavaria and Austria suffered a humbling licking to Prussia in the Seven Weeks ' War and Ludwig was stripped of all real major power . It was then , historians believe , that Ludwig decide to pull away into a illusion kingdom in the Alps dedicated to Wagner , an alternative realness in which he could meet out his operatic daydreams full of Christian knights and magical swan .
Ludwig already had the complete position picked out , a rocky promontory near his puerility castle with 360 - stage views of pristine Alpine lakes , riotous vale and towering elevation . Hewrote a varsity letter to Wagner , describing his design to build a far more challenging version of his founder ’s Hohenschwangau :
To bring his vision to spirit , Ludwig enlist a theatrical exercise set room decorator and picture panther from Munich advert Christian Jank to make some befittingly spectacular drawing off of " the New Hohenschwangau , " as Ludwig called it . It was meant to be an idealised version of a knightly castle , inspire by a sojourn to the legitimately medieval Wartburg Palas , but cranked up to an 11 .
Ludwig want 200well - appointed room , a cavernous " Singers ' Hall " for opera house carrying into action , ornate walled garden and even a " knights ' bath " akin to the ritual baths used by the Knights of the Holy Grail . But rather than being a thoroughgoing throwback , the castle was to let in the latest technological comforts , include electric firing , flush toilets , key heating and an electric buzzer system for summoning servants .
The first stone of Ludwig ’s dream castling was laid in 1869 . He had write to Wagner that he hoped to move in in three years , but construction was still on-going when Ludwig finally moved into the first completed segment 15 twelvemonth later . By that tip , the musical scale of the palace had been pared down importantly , and the undertaking had take on a clearly romantic look .
Was King Ludwig Really Mad?
Ludwig , a deeply pious Christian , had begin to identify himself more and more with theArthurian paladin Parzival , another knight in quest of the Holy Grail . In the palace , a space originally plan as an hearing way for receiving Edgar Guest was turned into a high - domed Throne Room without a stool . Instead , its gilding walls and mural would wait on as a " Hall of the Holy Grail . "
Ludwig grow increasingly cloistered . He log Z’s during the day and wandered the castling at nighttime . He ’d hire musicians and actors for private concerts and opera house . And during Bavaria ’s white wintertime , he ’d journey out for nighttime sleigh ride in an luxuriant , custom - made sledge , sometimes in medieval costume .
By 1885 , the still unfinished castle had gone wildly over budget , and Ludwig had assay the forbearance of his foreign creditors . When he could n’t riposte his debts , the alien banks arrogate the place and threatened to bankrupt the United States Department of State of Bavaria . Ludwig ’s ministers , largely to protect state assets , accused the Rex of insanity and bump off him from the throne .
Ludwig had clearly shown some borderline delusional behavior and his obsession with build his New Hohenschwangau — plusfour otherlavish personal palaces and home — was all - eat up . Whether or not he was truly a madman isstill being debated .
Ludwig ’s ultimate fate is also shrouded in closed book . Days after Ludwig was deemed insane by the state - appointed shrink and locked up in a dark castling , he was found deadened , apparently swim in waistline - inscrutable body of water . Ludwig ’s death at only 40 year sometime would have been predominate a suicide if not for one grim detail — his psychiatrist was swim bushed next to him . No one love just what went down .
The rook was rename Neuschwanstein ( German for " New Swan Stone " ) after Ludwig ’s death as an homage to the tragical and freakish figure known as the " fairy - tale king . " Ironically , the debt - ridden castle , opened to the public just seven weeks after Ludwig ’s death in 1886 , has bear for itself many time over , thanks to the 1.4 million tourists who chew the fat each twelvemonth .
