Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle (German: Schloss Neuschwanstein, [nɔʏˈʃvaːnʃtaɪn], literally: "The new swan rock") is a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany.

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Neuschwanstein Castle stands on the site of two castles, Vorderhohenschwangau Castle and Hinterhohenschwangau Castle. For technical reasons the ruined castles could not be integrated into the plan. In 1868, the ruins of the medieval twin castles were demolished completely; the remains of the old keep were blown up. Furthermore, King Ludwig II ordered to lower the plateau of about 8 m by an explosion rocks at this place and thus create space for the construction of "fairy palace." After the construction of the road and pipeline 5 September 1869 the foundation was laid for the construction of a huge castle.  Construction of the castle was requested court architect Eduard Riedel. The building design was drafted by the master of Munich Christian Jank.

Sandstone for the portal and bay window was brought from Nürtingen Württemberg. For windows, ledges arch, columns and capitals used marble from Zaltsburg.  A huge amount of building material raised on the west side of the building in the trolley with a crane working on a steam-powered. They delivered and installed in the right place with the help of a special system of lifting blocks.

In the years 1869-1873 were built gate. King's private apartments on the 3rd floor, and comfortable rooms on the 2nd floor facilitate ease the entire structure. Starting from 1873, the construction work was carried out in a very intense pace. In 1880, at a construction site was occupied by 209 carpenters, masons and ancillary workers. In 1883 construction was completed, was completed as finishing 1, 2, 4, and 5 floors. The spring of 1884, the King was able to live in the apartments on the 4th floor, where Ludwig II spent a quarter of the time over the last two years before his death. After the King's death in 1886, all construction work was suspended. The third floor of the castle and Knight premises were not completed. The main tower of the castle to the church, a height of 90 m, which was to rise above all the buildings had not been built at all. Has not been completed and the western terrace, which was to lead to the unfinished pool.

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons

Name:  Neuschwanstein Castle Location: Hohenschwangau Region:  Southwest Bavaria Country:  Germany Type:     Romanesque Revival Material: Sandstone Construction: 1869-1892 Condition:  opened to the public Website:   www.neuschwanstein.de

Neuschwanstein Castle consists of several individual structures which were erected over a length of 150 metres on the top of a cliff ridge. The elongate building is furnished with numerous towers, ornamental turrets, gables, balconies, pinnacles and sculptures. Following Romanesque style, most window openings are fashioned as bi- and triforia. Before the backdrop of the Tegelberg and the Pöllat Gorge in the south and the Alpine foothills with their lakes in the north, the ensemble of individual buildings provides varying picturesque views of the palace from all directions. It was designed as the romantic ideal of a knight's castle. Unlike "real" castles, whose building stock is in most cases the result of centuries of building activity, Neuschwanstein was planned from the inception as an intentionally asymmetric building, and erected in consecutive stages. Typical attributes of a castle were included, but real fortifications – the most important feature of a medieval aristocratic estate – were dispensed with.

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Idea Wartburg halls, public holidays and songs, Ludwig II embodied in the hall singers. The King always wanted to build this hall, so the castle of Neuschwanstein built like around this hall. Numerous wall paintings illustrate the theme of the legend of Parsifal, Wagner has inspired the creation of his stage works. During the life of the King Singers hall was not used. Only in 1933, the 50th anniversary of the death of composer Richard Wagner, and until the beginning of the war in 1939 in the castle of gala concerts. In 1969, it was decided to resume the concerts.

Despite the fact that the throne room was not completed, it is, without a doubt, the most impressive. In it the king wanted to glorify God's grace. Backfill, like a basilica, with a special niche for the throne had to say about the religious connection between God and the king. William Blades Hausshilda over the empty throne place depict six kings, numbered among the saints. Ends niche images of Christ, Mary and John. On the right and on the left, next to the marble staircase, a series of 12 Apostles, the carriers of God's will. Especially beautiful in this room is the mosaic floor of the detonation of Vienna. On its surface visible celestial globe with images of animals and plants. The column bottom and top of the throne room are made of artificial marble. The bottom of columns is purple, and the top of columns is made of artificial lapis lazuli.

When Ludwig II died in 1886, Neuschwanstein was still incomplete. 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. To 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.

When Bavaria became a republic in 1918, the government socialized the civil list. The resulting dispute with the House of Wittelsbach led to a split in 1923: Ludwig's palaces including Neuschwanstein fell to the state and are now managed by the Bavarian Palace Department, a division of the Bavarian finance ministry.

Due to its secluded location, the palace survived the two World Wars without destruction. Under the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Institute for the Occupied Territories, a suborganization of the Nazi Party, it served until 1944 as a depot for Nazi plunder from France. The works of art were catalogued photographically.

This is a file from the allcastle.info

At the end of the war the German Reichsbank deposited gold in the palace, which in the last days of the war was taken to an unknown place. In April 1945, the SS considered blowing up the palace to prevent the building itself and the artwork it contained from falling to the enemy. However, the plan was not realized by the SS-Gruppenführer who had been assigned the task, and at the end of the war the palace was surrendered undamaged to representatives of the Allied forces.

In 1977, Neuschwanstein Castle became the motif of a West German definitive stamp, and it is to appear on a €2 commemorative coin for the German Bundesländer series in 2012. In 2007, it was a finalist in the widely publicized on-line selection of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

The chateau is a museum. Seen only possible in the group (in this case are given automatic audio guides in various languages, including Russian). To visit the castle to buy a ticket at the ticket center (desired time to reconcile Center site) and go up to the castle on the bus and on foot or by horse carriage. The only person, who "lives" in the castle at the moment, is its watchman. Since 1886 over 60 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with up to 6,000 per day in the summer. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle and later, similar structures.

In the preparation of this article, were mainly used materials of websites: www.wikipedia.org, www.neuschwanstein.de, and allcastle.info.