Neuschwanstein castle is a beautiful castle located in Hohenschwangau, a small town in the Southwest Bavaria, Germany. The Castle was built as a residence for the King Ludwig II of Germany, who envisioned it as a medieval retreat away from Munich, the capital of Bavaria. Ludwig was known as the Mad King because of all the money he spent on building castles and his desire to remove himself from other people. “Neuschwanstein,” or the New Swan Stone Castle, has many beautiful towers and designs that blend in perfectly with the Alps’ surrounding trees, waterways, and mountains.
The Castle was designed by Eduard Riedel, a German architect, in the Romanesque style of medieval Europe. Construction on the Castle began in 1869. Its location on an alpine ridge in the Alps made for a spectacular setting but a challenging project. For example, a new road ascending 200 meters had to be created to reach the peak of the site, and the peak had to be leveled to allow for a secure foundation for the Castle. The technological complexities of the construction prevented King Ludwig from moving into the Castle until 1884. In fact, some aspects of the Castle were never completed. There was supposed to be a tower standing over 90 meters high with a chapel in its base, but the tower was never completed. Nevertheless, the exterior is striking, with its immaculate, light gray limestone facade. And the scale of the Castle is exceptionally grand. There is a massive courtyard in the center that allows for taking in the fresh mountain air.
In contrast to the beautiful exterior and surroundings of the Castle, the interior is full of extremes: fourteen of the two hundred rooms are finished ornately with a lot of color and decoration, but the balance of the rooms is unfinished. Singers Hall is one of the most elaborate finished spaces and was inspired by Richard Wagner’s operatic music. There is even a bedroom named after Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde opera. The finished rooms have gold-covered ceilings, intricate floor mosaics and numerous large-scale paintings.
Neuschwanstein now serves as a popular tourist attraction with over 1.3 million visitors annually. Also, you may notice that it is very similar to another very popular castle, Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom of Disney. Neuschwanstein actually inspired the Disney castle. Overall, Neuschwanstein is a beautiful castle, and one of the most unique buildings in the world.
