Ludwig's Castles - Part 1 - Linderhof Palace

Thanks to Christina, I learned alot about Bavaria and in particular King Ludwig.

• King Ludwig was king of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death.
• He was obsessed with King Louis XIV of France and did everything possible to emulate him.
• He was also obsessed with swans and in all his castles you find references and symbols of it.
• He never married and even though he built these huge castles, he did not like to be surrounded by people.
• I think he was gay.
• He was a devoted patron of the composer Richard Wagner.
• He was deposed on grounds of mental illness without any medical examination, and died a day later under mysterious circumstances.
• Ludwig is best known as an eccentric whose legacy is intertwined with the history of art and architecture, as he commissioned the construction of several extravagant fantasy castles (the most famous being Neuschwanstein).

Schloss Linderhof is the smallest of Ludwig's castles. It is near Oberammergau, quite close to Ettal.  It was inspired by The French Sun-King Louis XIV's Versailles. Linderhof, however is much smaller in size but equally beautiful. There is a lot of references to Louis XIV - the symbol of the sun which is found everywhere in the decoration of the rooms and which represents the notion of absolutism. Ludwig's bedroom is quite huge and has the best view. But unlike Louis XIV whose bedroom was also an audience chamber, Ludwig was a very private person and did not like to be surrounded by people.

Flora and puttos

Ludwig's muse - Louis XIV

The symbol of the sun

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. The palace is surrounded by formal gardens that are decorated with allegoric sculptures of the continents, the seasons and the elements.

The Neptune fountain

Amor with dolphins

The Moorish Kiosk is splendid but totally out of place in this setting. However it kind of ties in with Ludwig's obsessions.

The Venus Grotto is an artificial manmade grotto as an illustration of the First Act of Wagner's Tannhauser. 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 were installed which made it possible to illuminate the grotto in changing colours.

The swan boat

The artificial grotto which is illuminated in several colours.

The bust of Marie Antoinette of France

Beautiful gardens

Beautiful urns, each different.

Amor shooting an arrow

The temple of Venus

The 25m fountain is quite impressive.