NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE TOUR
Castle Neuschwanstein is a historical palace from the 19th century on a rough hügel above Füssen, in southwest Bavaria, in the town of Hohenschwangau. It was commissioned as a retreat and in honour of Richard Wagner by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Ludwig opted to make a personal payment for the palace rather than Bavarian public monies through large-scale borrowings. Construction started in 1869 but was never finished. Until his death in 1886 the castle was meant as a private home for the King. Shortly after his death, it was open to the public. Ever since the Castle Neuschwanstein has been visited by over 61 million visitors. More than 1.3 million visitors each year and 6,000 visitors per day in summer.
Schwangau municipality is situated on the southwestern edge of Bavaria’s German state at an elevation of 800 m (2620 ft.). Its vicinity is characterized by the transition between the southern Alpine foothills (toward the neighbouring Austrian border) and the comparatively flattened hillside in the north. Three castles dominated the settlements in the middle Ages. In 1832 King Maximilian II of Bavaria, Ludwig’s father, acquired his remains to replace them with the cosyneoGothic castle known as Hohenschwangau Castle. Finished in 1837, it became his family’s summer house, and his eldest son, Ludwig, was born in 1845.
Set on a rough mountain that overlooks Castle Swanstein, two adjacent lakes (Alpsee and Schwansee) and the hamlet, Castle Vorderhohenschwangau and Castle of Hinterhohenschwangau. They were only separated by a sepulchre; a hall, a keep and a strong tower house were all together. The twin mediaeval castles were only left in the 19th century, but Hinterhohenschwangau had an observation position called Sylphenturm. The ruins above the palace were recognised through his trips to the Crown Prince. In 1859, he initially outlined one in his diary. In 1864 the youthful King became the first on his series of palace building initiatives to build a new palace in the two wrecked castles. New Hohenschwangau Castle was named after Ludwig’s new Palace; it was renamed Neuschwanstein only after his death. The outcome is confusing: Hohenschwangau castle replaced the ruins of the castles of Schwanstein, and Castle Neuschwanstein replaced the remains of both the castles of Hohenschwangau.
The palace escaped the destruction of two world wars due to its isolated and strategically insignificant position. Until 1944, the Rosenberg Institute for the Occupies (Rosenberg Einsatzstabfor the occupied territories), a sub-organization of the Nazi party, operated as a warehouse for Nazi pillage seized from France. The castle was utilised for the cataloguing of artworks. (In a palace showing the extent of art seizures 39 picture albums were unearthed after World War II. The album is presently preserved in the National Archives of the United States. In April 1945, the SS thought that the structure itself and the artwork it held would not go to the enemy by blowing up the palace. However, the SS-Gruppenführer who was given the duty did not carry out the plot and unharmed representatives of Allied troops were delivered to the palace at the end of the war. The Allies finally restored the palace to the rebuilt state government of Bavaria. Some rooms were utilised as a makeshift depository by the Bavarian archives for the archival material because they were bombed at the premises in Munich.
Neuschwanstein attracts about 1.5 million people annually, making it one of Europe’s most famous tourist attractions. The palace can be viewed only during a 35-minute tour, and photography is not allowed within the castle for security reasons. Special guided tours that concentrate on certain themes are also available. Neuschwanstein has a total of 6,000 visitors a day during the peak season, from June to August, and people may have to wait several hours without prior reservations. The ticket-free may continue along the long road from the base to the top of the mountain, while without a ticket, visiting the gardens and courtyard, not admitted to the inside of the castle.