King Ludwig and his Palaces
Ludwig I. sacrificed millions of guldens in order to beautify his
capital with structures in the antique and Renaissance styles.
Ludwig II. inherited his grandfather's love of building. Writing
to his son, King Otto of Greece, at Christmas 1852, Ludwig I. says:
"When the Christmas presents were distributed, Ludwig was given some
wooden bricks with which to construct a triumphal arch. I saw buildings
by him which were excellent. I find a striking likeness between the
future Ludwig II. and the politically defunct Ludwig I.!" He was at
that time only seven years of age. At eleven he drew the plan of a
hunting-box, which was to be built at Hintersee, in the vicinity of
Berchtesgaden. The lodge was not built; but both his grandfather and
Queen Maria were astonished at his early-developed gift. This drawing
was given a place in his mother's album.
Until he had completed his eighteenth year Ludwig had never any money
in his hands: a few months after his eighteenth birthday he became the
possessor of a yearly income of many millions of guldens. His riches
appeared inexhaustible to him, and he thought it an easy matter to
realise all his dreams.
The summer mansions of Berg and Herzogenstand which he had inherited
from his father, even his favourite place of residence, Hohenschwangau,
no longer satisfied him. It was his intention to build a new castle
in the neighbourhood of the latter, high up on a rocky site. The
foundation-stone of Neuschwanstein was laid in 1869. Of the various
castles built by Ludwig this is the one which is the most satisfactory
in the impression it affords. From whatever side the spectator sees it,
the effect is beautiful and imposing. There is no trace in it of the
insane lavishness, and, on the whole, of the inartistic conception
which is strikingly evident in the palaces of Linderhof and Chiemsee.
Neuschwanstein is in pure Romanesque style. The interior is decorated
with pictures from German hero legends and songs. They represent the
Tannhäuser and Lohengrin legends, the Niebelungenlied and Parsifal,
and are conceived and executed in an artistic spirit. After the
conclusion of the Franco-German war, building became the thought in
Ludwig's mind round which all others revolved. He occupied himself
with the smallest details in the construction of his castles, and
gave exact descriptions as to how the different apartments were to
be decorated. He procured, with much trouble from foreign countries,
copies of objects of art which were inaccessible to others. King
Maximilian had a hunting-box in the vicinity of Ober-Ammergau;
here his son built the fantastic fairy château of Linderhof, himself
drawing the plans and carefully studying works on the various styles
of architecture. During the building he continually had new ideas,
and was seized with a desire to change parts of the building. Despite
his sure eye for general effects, he had no idea as to the manner
in which the building should be executed. In order to ascertain how
the mansion would look when complete, he caused walls to be built and
resorted to other radical expedients, which necessitated a considerable
increase of expenditure and eventually led to his financial ruin. The
foundation-stone of Linderhof was laid in 1869. It was not till ten
years later that it approached completion. The mansion is not large,
nor does it give the impression of being in any particular style. It
contains ten reception-rooms of different sizes and shapes, in which
there are collected a multitude of objects, oil paintings and pastel
drawings. The furniture is partly of rosewood. The richly-carved doors
and walls are gilded. On gilded consoles stand Japanese and Chinese
porcelain, majolica, and works in bronze, as well as some magnificent
old Dresden china. The silver-gilt domestic utensils are studded with
precious stones. The material with which the furniture is upholstered,
the curtains and portières, are all of heavy velvet and silk with gold
embroideries. In the big drawing-rooms the chandeliers and candelabra
are of massive gold. This magnificence is reflected by several hundred
large mirrors.
The building is surrounded by gardens and terraces. Busts and
statues of Greek gods stand on high pillars among the trees in the
shrubberies. In Ludwig's lifetime a fountain threw its jets of water a
hundred and fifty feet into the air. Close by Linderhof lies "The Blue
Grotto," a copy of the grotto at Capri, and the "Hunding-Hütte," which
was built at Richard Wagner's desire. King Maximilian's hunting-lodge
was moved, but an old lime-tree which had stood close by was allowed
to retain its place. A stair led up into the branches of the tree
where a summer-house had been constructed from which there was a
fine view of the surrounding country. When Ludwig was at Linderhof,
he spent many hours of his day in this tree.
As time went on he became absorbed in the art period of Louis
XIV. He built the enormous Schloss Herrenchiemsee, which is a copy of
Versailles and which swallowed many millions of guldens, although it
was never brought to completion. At the time when he drew the plan
of this palace his passion for building was no longer a fancy which
he could tame, but the outcome of a diseased brain, where the power
of will and judgment was impaired. He went, impelled by his building
operations, several journeys to France. His stay was on each occasion
of very short duration; the feverish disquiet which drove him thither
drove him back again almost as quickly. Hardly a year after the days
when Versailles had echoed to the cheers of the German Princes for
the newly elected Emperor, he went, without giving his Ministers the
slightest hint of his intention, in strictest incognito to Paris. He
spent several days at Versailles. The following year he returned
there once more, this time visiting in addition the town of Rheims,
the seat of the coronation of the Kings of France.
Chiemsee, called also "the Bavarian sea," surrounds three
islands: Herrenchiemsee, Frauenchiemsee, and the uninhabited
Krautinsel. Herrenchiemsee, or "Herrenwörth," was originally a
monastery, which at the time of their suppression went over into
private hands. In 1868 it was in the possession of some business men,
who sold it to King Ludwig. He chose the island as the site of his
Versailles. The King's advisers raised objections, but these only
aroused his defiance. He sent off experts to study the subject,
and threw himself heart and soul into the undertaking. Eight years,
however, passed before the plans were completed. Herrenchiemsee
consists of an intermediate building three hundred feet in length,
and of two wings surrounding a quadrangle, the latter being entirely
paved with black and white marble. Everywhere in the palace there are
pictures of the Kings and Queens of France, and the fleurs-de-lys of
the Bourbons. The sixteen living apartments are named after the rooms
to which they answer at Versailles. The finest of these is the mirror
gallery, which is about 250 feet long, 35 feet broad, and 40 feet
high. Piercing one of the walls are 27 lofty arched windows, and on
the other a similar number of large mirrors. Two-and-fifty candelabra
of gold and 35 chandeliers provide space for 2500 wax candles.
It was but for few nights that this sea of light burned in honour
of Ludwig II. and his imaginary guests from the time of the French
Kings. From the year 1881 he arrived regularly at Herrenchiemsee on
the 29th of September and remained there till the 8th of October,
inhabiting the first years of this period the so-called royal
apartments in a neighbouring monastery, which could easily have
been changed into an agreeable place of residence had the King had
thoughts for anything but the new palace. He was in the habit of
arriving at midnight. The railway station was near the banks of the
lake. A beautiful gondola, which was used for no other purpose, was
waiting to take him across to the island; it was rowed by two men
in Neapolitan costume. When the King came he examined everything;
on one occasion, by way of example, he discovered that some groups
of statuary in the park were of plaster instead of marble, as he had
ordered, and he became so angry that he broke them in pieces.
Linderhof, Neuschwanstein, and Herrenchiemsee, on which he sacrificed
so much time and thought, and which caused his financial ruin,
have been later the means of paying his debts. The veil of mystery
which surrounded his person rested likewise as long as he lived over
his residences. But after his death these objects of his pride, so
jealously guarded by him from profane eyes, became accessible to the
public. They are considered, and rightly so, as sights of the first
order. Thousands of visitors yearly, from all countries, admire the
edifices of the splendour-loving King.