frackledJJ
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It is interesting because of its age. It is very much younger than its collegue Versailles, for instance. As to its history: there is not much about it. King Ludwig 2 was a young man with a very fine mind for engineering, maths and technical things. The engineering going into the artificial "swan grotto" or the dining room (he had a huge large table standing in the kitchen (situated exactly under the dining room) at exactly the place it would have in the dining room) and designed machinery for the fully adorned (with centerpieces, glasses, cuttlery and food) table to be lifted from the kitchen into the dining room.
He is also rumored to have been gay and scizophrenic, and was actually diagnosed with severe depression. During his livetime, he was not the popular king one might think him to have been, judging from these times, but was scorned at for neglecting politics in favor of building his dream castles, which cost huge amounts of money. Shortly before he died, he had "sold" his army (meaning he was getting paid for them having to fight for the prussians) to the prussians to fight against the French, which went highly against the grain of the Bavarian army, because traditionally, and even just some (I think 8) years before, the Bavarians had always sided with the French against the Prussians.
The cirumstances of his death are highly controvercial. He had been declared unfit for governing some time before, which depressed him very much, and had since than been "grounded" in Neuschwanstein. He was walking with his doctor and two bodyguards by the lake, until the doctor told the bodyguards to keep their distance. The official version of the Bavarian nobility was that King Ludwig 2 decided to kill himself in the lake (taking off his cloak and outer clothes, but not his shoes, which is highly idiotic, since he would drown much faster with the cloak and outer clothes, if that had been what he wanted to do) and walked in. His doctor, it is said, wanted to keep him from killing himself and followed him into the lake (also only halfway dressed) and sadly drowned himself. The bodyguards were sworn to never tell anyone what they had witnessed by the lake, the royal house of Bavaria threatening them with death if they did. After the death of the two bodyguards, some good 50 years later (and after there were no more Kings ruling over Bavaria), the wife of one of the body guards told what she had been told by her husband under the highest seal of secrecy: That the two bodyguards had heard two shots, whereafter they ran forward to where King Ludwig 2 and his docter had been a moment ago, and found them both floating in the lake.
Until this day, the nobel house of Bavaria has refused to have King Ludwig 2s' coffin opened and examined by medical examiners.
So, with all this drama connected to the castle, its architecture, engineering and highly dramatic setting in the alps, and, of course, it being the model for Disneys Cinderella-castle, there is no mystery as to why it is so popular.
However, I would not consider it a world wonder, since it is all just technology, drama, and, in my personal opinion, a good amount of stupidity and high-handedness by the people invloved back than. |
Alwin E
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King Ludwig 2nd of Bavaria is known to have been the first committing gay ruler in history, so Neuschwanstein castle is something special. The circumstances of his death are heavily debated, but there's no debate that he had a guard of "chevaux léger", which is French for "light cavallery", and where the German word "schwul" for "gay" is derived from.
Architecturally, Neuschwanstein castle is not that much interesting, but I've been there once and found the gardens and pavillions much more fascinating than the castle itself. I also was at Rambouillet and at Versailles Castle in France, and everywhere I went, the castles were much less interesting than the gardens. Except maybe in Versailles; the mirror hall is sort of fascinating. |
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