45 Fun Facts About Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein stands in which German state?

Bavaria. Its young king built the castle in the far south of his realm, hard by the Austrian border, as a private retreat from the court in Munich.

The castle was built in honour of which composer?

Richard Wagner. The king called the castle a temple for his 'divine friend', yet the composer died in 1883, a year before Ludwig could first stay in its finished rooms.

What is the closest larger town to Neuschwanstein?

Füssen. Visitors coming by rail get off there and take a bus to the village below the castle, and the last 1.5 kilometres are a steep uphill walk.

By which nickname is Neuschwanstein's builder, King Ludwig II, best known today?

The Fairy-Tale King. From 1875 he slept by day and lived by night, riding out in ornate sleighs, and locals still call him by the fond dialect name 'the Kini'.

In what architectural style was the castle built?

Neo-Romanesque. The first drawings showed a late Gothic 'robber knight's castle' until the king asked for a Romanesque one instead; only his bedroom and the chapel beside it stayed Gothic.

The Marienbrücke, the bridge with the classic view of Neuschwanstein, is named after whom?

Ludwig II's mother. His father had the bridge built across the gorge as a birthday present for Queen Marie, a keen mountain climber, long before the castle beside it existed.

Who sketched Neuschwanstein first, before an architect turned the pictures into building plans?

A stage designer, Christian Jank. The king had a scene painter from the Munich court opera picture his ideal castle first, borrowing from stage sets, and only then was an architect told to make it stand up.

For roughly how long did Ludwig II live in Neuschwanstein?

Six months: 172 days in all. He first stayed in the finished rooms in May 1884 and was led away under arrest in June 1886, never having seen his castle without scaffolding.

Neuschwanstein's grandest state room was finished without which centrepiece, cancelled when the king died?

The throne. It was to stand in the apse, where a church would have its altar, but the order was dropped after Ludwig's death and the dais has stood empty ever since.

Ludwig's father Maximilian II built which neo-Gothic palace below the site in the 1830s?

Hohenschwangau. Its walls were painted with medieval legends, a swan knight's among them, and the boy who spent his summers there later built his own castle on the ridge above.

In his later years Ludwig II came to see Neuschwanstein as the castle of which legendary object?

The Holy Grail. He identified more and more with the Grail king Parzival, so a castle begun as a tribute to medieval minstrels gained a state room redesigned as a hall of the Grail.

Which reconstructed castle near Eisenach, visited by Ludwig in 1867, became the model for Neuschwanstein?

The Wartburg. He had drawings of it made on the spot, and two of its halls were later merged into one showpiece for his own castle.

Which French château, being rebuilt for Napoleon III, did Ludwig visit in July 1867?

Pierrefonds. The architect Viollet-le-Duc was rebuilding the ruin as an imperial residence in medieval dress, and its round towers left their mark on Neuschwanstein's.

Ludwig II's grandfather, Ludwig I, abdicated in 1848 after a scandal over which dancer?

Lola Montez. The Irish-born performer, who passed as a Spanish dancer, won such sway over the old king that Munich turned on him, and in the revolution of 1848 he stepped down in favour of his son.

Which state's victory over Ludwig II's kingdom in 1866 cost him his sovereignty and spurred his castle-building?

Prussia. The peace terms put his army under Prussian command in wartime, and the king, no longer truly sovereign, began planning a realm of castles where he still could be.

The palace was built as a conventional construction of what, later encased in stone?

Brick. The pale limestone is only cladding over ordinary masonry, and the Throne Hall, added late to the plans, had to be carried on a steel frame hidden in the walls.

Which legendary lovers are the theme of the king's bedroom at Neuschwanstein?

Tristan and Isolde. As a young king Ludwig had the opera about the pair premiered in Munich, and they fill his bedroom, from the murals to ceramic figures on the tiled stove.

Contrary to a common belief, whose money paid for the building of Neuschwanstein?

The king's own, plus loans. No state funds went into his castles, but by 1885 foreign banks were threatening to seize his property, and his ministers used the crisis to remove him.

Ludwig II secretly drew yearly payments arranged by which statesman as a reward for a political favour?

Otto von Bismarck. Ludwig had signed the letter inviting the king in Berlin to become German emperor, and the chancellor repaid him in secret from a fund seized from the deposed King of Hanover.

Which was the smallest of Ludwig II's three palace projects, and the only one he saw completed?

Linderhof. The little Rococo palace was finished in 1878 and is the only one of the three where the king really made his home; the other two were still building sites when he died.

In 1867 Ludwig II was briefly engaged to Sophie, a sister of which famous empress?

Elisabeth of Austria. The empress known as Sisi was Ludwig's cousin and close friend; he broke off the engagement to her sister within the year and never married.

On 10 June 1886 Ludwig had the deposition commission arrested where?

In the gatehouse. Warned by his coachman, he had the local police bar the gate, and the officials who had come to depose him spent several hours locked up before they were let go.

Ludwig died on 13 June 1886 in shallow water near Berg Castle, on which body of water?

Lake Starnberg. He had been brought to the lakeside palace under guard only the day before, and the doctor in charge of him died with him; what happened in the water has never been settled.

What was planned as the centrepiece of Neuschwanstein's upper courtyard but never built?

Tower and chapel. The tower was to be the high point of the whole castle, rising from the chapel at its foot, but work stopped a few years after the king's death with neither begun above ground.

What was planned for the space beneath the throne room but never built?

A Knights' Bath, bride chamber, guest rooms and banquet hall were also abandoned.

How soon after Ludwig II's death in June 1886 was his private castle opened to paying visitors?

Seven weeks. The shy king had built it to be alone, yet it opened on 1 August 1886 and about 18,000 people came through in the first two months.

In 1923 Neuschwanstein went to the state, while the older castle below went to whom?

The former royal family. A compensation fund set up for the Wittelsbachs still owns the castle where Ludwig grew up, and one ticket centre in the village sells entry to both.

During World War II the castle served as a depot for what?

Nazi-plundered art from France. From 1941 the looters' task force sent thousands of crates here, the Rothschild collections among them, and American officers found the rooms still packed in 1945.

In April 1945 the SS considered doing what to the palace?

The officer assigned the task never carried it out and the castle was handed over undamaged.

What is the largest room in the palace by area?

The Hall of the Singers. It fills the whole fourth floor of the east wing, yet no music was heard in it in the king's lifetime: he meant it as a monument to medieval minstrels, not a concert room.

The Throne Hall chandelier is fashioned after what?

A Byzantine crown. The gilt chandelier is about four metres high, and it suits its setting: the hall was laid out like a Byzantine church, with an apse where the altar would be.

What was the artificial grotto beside the king's salon at Neuschwanstein originally fitted with?

A waterfall and a rainbow machine. The artificial dripstone cave, lit in changing colours, recreates the Venus grotto of the Tannhäuser legend, and a glass door sinks into the 'rock' to open onto a conservatory.

How did meals reach the king's dining room from Neuschwanstein's kitchen, three floors below?

By a food lift. In his other palaces the dining table itself sank through the floor to be laid out of sight, but here the kitchen was too far below, so a lift did the job.

The oratory beside the king's bedroom at Neuschwanstein is dedicated to which saint?

Saint Louis. Ludwig is the German form of Louis and the king was born on the saint's feast day, so the French royal saint fills the oratory's murals, windows and altarpiece.

Which modern conveniences did the palace have?

Telephone lines and flushing toilets. The Middle Ages were only a costume here: even the cranes that raised the 'medieval' walls were driven by steam engines.

Roughly how many of Neuschwanstein's rooms were finished before Ludwig II died?

About 15. Fourteen are shown to visitors today, while the whole second floor was left as an unfinished shell and now holds a shop and a cafeteria.

Which two Disney park castles did Neuschwanstein inspire?

Sleeping Beauty Castle and Cinderella Castle. Disney built the first small on purpose, since Walt felt Europe's huge castles were meant to intimidate, and the second blends Neuschwanstein with several French châteaux.

Which 1968 musical film featured Neuschwanstein?

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The dream castle was cast against type as the lair of the film's villain, Baron Bomburst of Vulgaria, while his village was shot in Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

In 2012 Neuschwanstein appeared on which piece of German money?

€2 coin. Germany's states take turns on a yearly commemorative coin, and the one issued for the castle's home state shows Neuschwanstein from the east with the mountains behind.

In 2007 Neuschwanstein was a finalist in what?

The New Seven Wonders of the World vote. It reached the final round of the worldwide online poll but missed the seven winners, which included the Colosseum and the Taj Mahal.

What, named Neuschwanstein after the castle, landed a few kilometres away on 6 April 2002?

A meteorite. It burst about 22 kilometres up and three pieces were found over the next year; the largest lay just inside Austria and ended up in a court fight over who owned it.

What is the only way for visitors to see the inside of Neuschwanstein?

On a guided tour. It lasts about half an hour and no photographs are allowed inside; rooms meant for one man now see around 6,000 visitors on a summer day.

Herrenchiemsee, another of Ludwig II's palaces, was modelled on which royal residence?

Versailles. Ludwig revered the French king who built the original and raised his own palace as a 'temple of fame' to him, complete with a Hall of Mirrors.

Which legend of a swan knight runs through Neuschwanstein's murals and gave the castle its emblem?

Lohengrin. Ludwig knew the tale from the murals of his father's castle, saw the opera at fifteen and came to see himself as the swan knight; the swan was also the badge of the local medieval lords.

Which sister project of Neuschwanstein, planned for a nearby mountain ruin, was never built?

Falkenstein. The king bought the ruin in 1883 and had a fantastic Gothic castle drawn for it; a road and a water pipe were even laid to the site, but the project was dropped when he died.