Germany: Linderhof and Neuschwanstein

Sunday morning, while we were in Garmisch, the original plan was to get up early and take a cable car up to Germany's highest mountain, Zugspitze, but since our weather on this trip has been so rainy with a cloud cover or clouds quickly rolling in, we decided against it since our views would most likely be obstructed.  Instead we pointed out the peak and put it on our "To Do" list for next time. 

We grabbed some breakfast at our hotel before checking out.  We then headed to the B/X on the military base to grab some snacks, and look at souvenirs.  As we handed over our ID's at the gate, they noticed that mine and Jake's had expired.  So they "confiscated" them and looked at our passports instead.  Luckily, Jake has a supply of military ID's on-hand at home so he wasn't too concerned.  I, on the other hand, was dreading the process of getting a new one when we got back to the States.  We headed over to the B/X and noticed that it wouldn't be open for another 45 minutes.  We went back out the gate and told them that we would be right back when the B/X opened and asked if we had to go through the whole ID checking process again.  We had already done it the night before and once this morning.  He looked at his watch and said, "Not if I'm still here in 45 minutes."

We headed into town to do some window shopping for our children.  Being a Sunday, nothing was open except for one store.  We parked and walked through Garmisch and looked through the store windows.  We visited the only open store and exclaimed over darling dresses, sweaters, lederhosen, jackets, and shoes.  The lady was really helpful but probably disappointed because I didn't end up buying anything from her.  Unfortunately, I knew that my children wouldn't wear what she had to offer.

We then went back to base and luckily a guard that we recognized was still there and waved us through even though the shift had changed.  We re-loaded up on snacks and tried to find regular bottled water and Diet Coke.  They would surely have it at a U.S. base, right?  However, the water was still sparkling.  Yuck!  Almost two weeks in Germany and we have tried about every brand of bottled water in every town, asked for "tap or still water" at every restaurant and we still can't find regular water without some bitter taste or fizz to it.  And to top it off, there is no ice either.  We are definitely spoiled in America when it comes to our drinks.

Oh well.  On our way to Linderhof . . .            

Linderhof Palace (Schloss Linderhof) is in southwest Bavaria near Ettal Abbey.  It is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.

Ludwig already knew the area around Linderhof from his youth when he had accompanied his father King Maximilian II of Bavaria on his hunting trips in the Bavarian Alps.  When Ludwig II became king in 1864 he inherited the so-called Königshäuschen from his father, and in 1869 began enlarging the building.  In 1874 he decided to tear down the Königshäuschen and rebuild it on its present-day location in the park.  At the same time three new rooms and the staircase were added to the remaining U-shaped complex, and the previous wooden exterior was clad with stone façades.  The building was designed in the style of the second rococo-period.

Although Linderhof is much smaller than Versailles, it is evident that the palace of the French Sun-King Louis XIV (who was an idol for Ludwig) was its inspiration.  The staircase, for example, is a reduction of the famous Ambassador's staircase in Versailles.  Stylistically, however, the building and its decor take their cues from the mid-18th century Rococo of Louis XV.   The symbol of the sun that can be found everywhere in the decoration of the rooms represents the French notion of absolutism that, for Ludwig, was the perfect incorporation of his ideal of a God-given monarchy with total royal power.  Such a monarchy could no longer be realized in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century.  The bedroom was important to the ceremonial life of an absolute monarch; Louis XIV of France used to give his first and last audience of the day in his bedchamber.  In imitation of Versailles, the bedroom is the largest chamber of Linderhof Palace.

The location of the palace near Ettal Abbey again presents another interesting point. Because of its architecture Ludwig saw the church of the monastery as the room where the holy grail was preserved. This fact connects the idea of a baroque palace to the one of a "medieval" castle such as Neuschwanstein.

(We were not allowed to take pictures inside the palace so I googled the interior pictures instead.)

Linderhof, in comparison to other palaces, has a rather private atmosphere.  In fact, there are only four rooms that have a real function.  The Hall of Mirrors was used by the king as some kind of living room.  He enjoyed sitting in the niche, sometimes reading there the whole night.  Because Ludwig II used to sleep in the daytime and stay awake in the night, the mirrors created an unimaginable effect for him when they reflected the light of the candles a thousand times.  The parallel placement of some mirrors evoke the illusion of a never ending avenue.
The two tapestry chambers are almost identical and have no specific function.  The western one is sometimes called "Music Room" because of the Aeolodion (an instrument combining piano and harmonium) in it.  The scenes on the walls are painted on rough canvas in order to imitate real tapestries.

The audience chamber is located to the west of the castle and is flanked by the yellow and lilac cabinets.  The cabinets were only used as antechambers to the larger rooms.  Ludwig II never used this room to hold an audience.  This would have contradicted to the private character of Linderhof Palace and the chamber would have been much too small for it.  He rather used it as a study where he thought about new building projects.  That there is an audience chamber in Linderhof, however, reminds us of the demand of the king on an absolute monarchy.

 

The dining room is located to the east and is flanked by the pink and blue cabinets.  The pink cabinet, unlike the other cabinets, had a real function.  The king used it as a robing room.  The dining room is famous for its disappearing dumb-waiter called "Tischlein deck dich".  This table was installed so that Ludwig could dine alone here.  Yet the staff had to lay the table for at least four persons because it is said that the king used to talk to imaginary people while he was eating.

The model for the bedchamber was not Louis XIV's bedchamber in Versailles but the bedroom of the Rich Rooms in Munich Residence.  This room was completely rebuilt in 1884 and could not be totally finished until the king's death two years later.  The position of the bed itself on steps in the alcove that is closed off by a gilded balustrade gives it the appearance of an altar and thereby glorifies the night-kingdom of Ludwig II.

 

 

The gardens surrounding Linderhof Palace are considered one of the most beautiful creations of historicist garden design.  The park combines formal elements of Baroque style or Italian Renaissance gardens with landscaped sections that are similar to the English garden.

Such a cute German couple in the traditional German dress

The palace is surrounded by formal gardens that are subdivided into five sections that are decorated with allegoric sculptures of the continents, the seasons and the elements:
     *The northern part is characterized by a cascade of thirty marble steps.  The bottom end of the cascade is formed by the Neptune fountain and on top of it there is a Music Pavilion.
     *The center of the western parterre is formed by basin with the gilt figure of "Fama".  In the west there is a pavilion with the bust of Louis XIV.  In front of it you see a fountain with the gilt sculpture "Amor with dolphins". The garden is decorated with four majolica vases.
     *The crowning of the eastern parterre is a wooden pavilion containing the bust of Louis XVI. Twenty-four steps below it there is a fountain basin with a gilt sculpture "Amor shooting an arrow".  A sculpture of "Venus and Adonis" is placed between the basin and the palace.
     *The water parterre in front of the castle is dominated by a large basin with the gilt fountain group "Flora and puttos".  The fountain itself is nearly 25 meters high.
     *The terrace gardens form the southern part of the park and correspond to the cascade in the north. On the landing of the first flight there is the "Naiad fountain" consisting of three basins and the sculptures of water nymphs.  In the middle arch of the niche you see the bust of Marie Antoinette of France.  These gardens are crowned by a round temple with a statue of Venus.

The Venus Grotto building is wholly artificial and was built for the king as an illustration of the First Act of Wagner's "Tannhäuser".  Ludwig liked to be rowed over the lake in his golden swan-boat but at the same time he wanted his own blue grotto of Capri. Therefore 24 dynamos had been installed and so already in the time of Ludwig II it was possible to illuminate the grotto in changing colors.

Hunding's Hut was inspired by Richard Wagner's directions for the First Act of the "Valkyrie". Ludwig used to celebrate Germanic feasts in this house.

Ludwig came to the Gurnemanz Hermitage for contemplation every year on Good Friday.  For this day he wanted a flowering meadow.  If there was no such meadow because there was still snow lying, the garden director had to plant one for the king.

Ludwig II was also interested in the oriental world and thus built a Moorish Kiosk.  This building was designed by the Berliner architect Karl von Diebitsch for the International Exhibition in Paris 1867. Ludwig II wanted to buy it but was forestalled by the railroad king Bethel Henry Strousberg.  Ludwig bought the pavilion after the bankruptcy of Strousberg.  The most notable piece of furniture of this building is the peacock throne.

The Moroccan House had really been built in Morocco for the International Exhibition in Vienna 1873.  The king bought it in 1878 and let it decorate in a more royal way.

After visiting Linderhof, we made our way to the village of Hohenschwangau to see more of the castles of King Ludwig, Schloss Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castle.  It was a beautiful day and due to time constraints, we opted to tour the infamous Neuschwanstein Castle only.

The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner.  It was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886.  The palace has appeared prominently in several movies, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

In the Middle Ages, three castles overlooked the Hohenschwangau village.  One was called Schwanstein Castle.  In 1832, Ludwig's father King Maximilian II of Bavaria bought its ruins to replace them by the comfortable neo-Gothic palace known as Hohenschwangau Castle.  Finished in 1837, the palace became his family's summer residence, and his elder son Ludwig spent a large part of his childhood here.  In the 19th century only ruins remained of the other medieval twin castles,
and when the young king came to power in 1864, the construction of a new palace in place of the two ruined castles became the first in his series of palace building projects. Ludwig himself called the new palace New Hohenschwangau Castle – only after his death was it renamed Neuschwanstein.  The confusing result is that Hohenschwangau and Schwanstein have effectively swapped names: Hohenschwangau Castle replaced the ruins of Schwanstein Castle, and Neuschwanstein Castle replaced the ruins of the two Hohenschwangau Castles.

 Views of Hohenschwangau

The inspiration for the construction of Neuschwanstein came from two of Ludwig's journeys in 1867--one to the reconstructed Wartburg near Eisenach, and the other in July to the Château de Pierrefonds, which was transforming from a ruined castle into a historistic palace.  The king saw both buildings as representatives of a romantic interpretation of the Middle Ages as well as the musical mythology of his friend Richard Wagner.  Wagner's operas Tannhäuser and Lohengrin had made a lasting impression on him.

   

At the end of the year 1873 the gatehouse was completed and fully furnished, allowing Ludwig to take provisional lodgings there and observe the further construction work.  In 1884, the king could move into the unfinished palace and in 1885, he invited his mother Marie to Neuschwanstein on the occasion of her 60th birthday.   Despite its size, Neuschwanstein did not have space for the royal court, but contained only the king's private lodging and servants' rooms.  The court buildings served decorative, rather than residential purposes.  The palace was intended to serve Ludwig II as a kind of inhabitable theatrical setting.  As a temple of friendship it was also devoted to life and work of Richard Wagner, who died in 1883 before he had set foot in the building.  And ironically, in the end, Ludwig II only lived in the palace for a total of 172 days.

The suite of rooms within the palace contains the Throne Room, Ludwig's suite, the Singers' Hall, and the Grotto.  Throughout, the design pays homage to the German legends of Lohengrin, the Swan Knight.  Hohenschwangau, where Ludwig spent much of his youth, had decorations of these sagas. These themes were taken up in the operas of Richard Wagner.

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the castle so thank you, Wikipedia and Google.

Had it been completed, the palace would have had more than 200 interior rooms, including premises for guests and servants as well as for service and logistics.  Ultimately, no more than about 15 rooms and halls were finished.   In its lower stories the palace accommodates administrative and servants' rooms and the rooms of today's palace administration.  The palace was fitted with several of the latest technical innovations of the late 19th century including a battery-powered bell system for the servants and telephone lines.  The kitchen equipment included a Rumford oven which turned the skewer with its heat and so automatically adjusted the turning speed.  The hot air was used for a calorifère central heating system.  Further novelties for the era were running warm water and toilets with automatic flushing.

Kitchen

The largest room of the palace by area is the Hall of the Singers, followed by the Throne Hall.  It was one of the king's favorite projects for his palace. The Hall of the Singers was never designed for court festivities of the reclusive king.  Rather it served as a walkable monument in which the culture of knights and courtly love of the Middle Ages was represented. The first performance in this hall took place in 1933: A concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of Richard Wagner's death.

Hall of Singers

The Throne Hall is situated in the west wing of the palace.  On three sides it is surrounded by colorful arcades, ending in an apse that was intended to hold Ludwig's throne – which was never completed. The throne dais is surrounded by paintings of Jesus, the Twelve Apostles and six canonized kings.  The floor mosaic was completed after the king's death.  The chandelier is fashioned after a Byzantine crown.  The Throne Hall makes a sacral impression.

Throne Hall

Apart from the large ceremonial rooms, several smaller rooms were created for use by Ludwig II.  The royal lodging is on the third floor of the palace in the east wing and consists of eight rooms with living space and several smaller rooms.  In spite of the gaudy décor, the living space with its moderate room size and its sofas and suites makes a relatively modern impression on today's visitors.

The bedroom adjacent to the dining room and the subsequent house chapel are the only rooms of the palace that remain in neo-Gothic style.  The king's bedroom is dominated by a huge bed adorned with carvings. Fourteen carvers worked more than four years on the bed canopy with its numerous pinnacles and on the oaken panelings.  It was in this room that Ludwig was arrested in the night from 11 to 12 June 1886.  The adjacent little house chapel is consecrated to Saint Louis, after whom the owner was named. 

Bedroom

The servants' rooms in the basement of the Palas are quite scantily equipped with massive oak furniture.  Besides one table and one cabinet there are two beds.  Opaque glass windows separated the rooms from the corridor that connects the exterior stairs with the main stairs, so that the king could enter and leave unseen.  The servants were not allowed to use the main stairs, but were restricted to the much narrower and steeper servants' stairs.

Drawing Room

The king's wishes and demands expanded during the construction of Neuschwanstein, and so did the expenses.  Drafts and estimated costs were revised repeatedly.  Completion was originally projected for 1872, but deferred repeatedly.  Neuschwanstein was not Ludwig II's only huge construction project.  It was followed by Linderhof Palace and the baroque palace of Herrenchiemsee.  Linderhof, the smallest of the projects, was finished in 1886, and the other two remain incomplete.  All three projects together drained his resources.  The king paid for his construction projects by private means and from his civil list income.   

Dining Room

Even after his debts had reached 14 million marks, Ludwig insisted on continuation of his architectural projects; he threatened suicide if his creditors seized his palaces.  In early 1886, Ludwig asked his cabinet for a credit of 6 million marks, which was denied. In April, he followed Bismarck's advice to apply for the money to his parliament. In June the Bavarian government decided to depose the king, who was living at Neuschwanstein at the time.  On June 9 he was incapacitated, and on June 10 he had the deposition commission arrested in the gatehouse.  In expectation of the commission, he alerted the gendarmerie and fire brigades of surrounding places for his protection.  A second commission headed by Bernhard von Gudden arrived on the next day, and the king was forced to leave the palace that night.  Ludwig was put under the supervision of von Gudden but on June 13, both died under mysterious circumstances in the shallow shore water of Lake Starnberg.

Study

At the time of Ludwig's death the palace was far from complete.  The external structures of the Gatehouse and the Palas were mostly finished, but the Rectangular Tower was still scaffolded.  Work on the Bower had not started, but was completed in simplified form by 1892, without the planned female saints figures.  The Knights' House was also simplified.  Plans for a castle garden with terraces and a fountain west of the palace were also abandoned after the king's death.

The king never intended to make the palace accessible to the public.  But no more than six weeks after the king's death the regent Luitpold ordered the palace opened to paying visitors.  The administrators of Ludwig's estate managed to balance the construction debts by 1899.  From then until World War I, Neuschwanstein was a stable and lucrative source of revenue for the House of Wittelsbach, indeed Ludwig's castles were probably the single largest income source earned by the Bavarian royal family in the last years prior to 1914. T o guarantee a smooth course of visits, some rooms and the court buildings were finished first.  Initially the visitors were allowed to move freely in the palace, causing the furniture to wear quickly.

Due to its secluded location, the palace survived the two World Wars without destruction and is a global symbol of the era of Romanticism. 

 

  

After touring the interior, we walked around the grounds and over to the bridge with amazing views of the castle and countryside.  There was a waterfall below that didn't look that far down while standing on the bridge but when we went back to the castle and looked back, we realized just how far down the water was falling below.

   

When we were finished we got back into the car to make it to Hotel Klostergarten in Pfullingen.  We were starving and decided to just stop in a village along the Autobahn for dinner.  The village we chose was Ulipersta and we ate our most amazing and expensive meal at Gasthof Krone.  When we first started driving through the village, dinner did not look all that promising.  A lot of restaurants were closed, however a couple of bakeries and ice cream shops were open.  But we wanted something really tasty and more substantial.  Sam had the great idea to look for a place that had expensive cars parked out front.  And that is how we found our dinner.  It was delicious that we fought the urge to lick our plates clean.  Actually, I think Amber might have done that anyway when the server wasn't looking ;).  We had to skip dessert unfortunately because the hostess at our hotel was only staying there until 10:00 and we needed to get on the road. 

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on our drive and happened to get a little lost along the way.  Luckily, our hostess was gracious enough to stay almost 45 minutes past her end time and flick the lights on and off for us to find her.