ASIANOVERLAND.NET WINTER EUROPEAN  DAY 44/217: MUNICH TO NEUSCHWANSTEIN, GERMANY

 24/1/1981

Munich is north of the Bavarian Alps, and is the seat of Upper Bavaria, the most densely populated municipality in Germany. Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna. Catholic Munich strongly resisted the Reformation, and was a political point of divergence during the resulting Catholic/Protestant Thirty Years' War. It remained physically untouched despite an occupation by the Protestant Swedes. Once Bavaria was established as a sovereign kingdom in 1806, Munich became a major European centre of arts, architecture, culture and science.

The compulsory European photo-stop is Neuschwanstein Castle, a 19th-century romantic palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and in honour of Richard Wagner. Legend has it that the mad King Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds. The iconic Disneyland place is based on Neuschwanstein.

In 1884, King Ludwig was able to move from Munich into the (still unfinished) Neuschwanstein Palas, and in 1885, he invited his mother Marie to Neuschwanstein on the occasion of her 60th birthday. By 1886, the external structure of the Palas (hall) was mostly finished.

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 King Ludwig II as a kind of inhabitable theatrical setting as a temple of friendship dedicated to the life and work of Richard Wagner, who died in 1883 before he had set foot in the building. In the end, Ludwig II lived in the palace for a total of only 172 days.

The fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle’s Throne Hall is 20 by 12 metres, with a height of 13 metres and occupies the third and fourth floors. It is surrounded by colourful arcades, ending in an apse that was intended to hold King Ludwig's throne – which was never completed. The throne dais is surrounded by paintings of Jesus, the Twelve Apostles and six canonised kings. The floor mosaic was completed after the king's death. The chandelier is fashioned after a Byzantine crown. 

The castle was intended as a home for the King, until he died in 1886, and was open to the public shortly after his death.

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