HOHENSCHWANGAU - NEUSCHWANSTEIN - FALKENSTEIN
SCHLOß HOHENSCHWANGAU
It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria.
It is located in the German village of Schwangau near the town of Füssen, part of the county of Ostallgäu in southwestern Bavaria, Germany, very close to the border with Austria.
Schloß Hohenschwangau
Schloß Hohenschwangau
As a boy Ludwig lived for much of the time at Castle Hohenschwangau, a fantasy castle his father had built near the Schwansee (Swan Lake) near Füssen.
In 1832, Ludwig's father King Maximilian II of Bavaria bought its ruins to replace them by the comfortable neo-Gothic palace known as Hohenschwangau Castle. Finished in 1837, the palace became his family's summer residence.
It was decorated in the gothic style with countless frescoes depicting heroic German sagas.
The family also visited Lake Starnberg.
As an adolescent, Ludwig became best friends with his aide de camp, Prince Paul of Bavaria's wealthy Thurn und Taxis family. The two young men rode together, read poetry aloud, and staged scenes from the Romantic operas of Richard Wagner.
Schloß Hohenschwangau
Schloß Hohenschwangau
Schloß Hohenschwangau
Music Room with the 'Wagner Piano'
Richard Wagner
portrait by Franz Von Lenbach
SCHLOß NEUSCHWANSTEIN
The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner.
The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886.
Since then over 60 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle.
Schloß Neuschwanstein
The building design was drafted by the stage designer Christian Jank and realized by the architect Eduard Riedel.
Initial ideas for the palace drew stylistically on Nuremberg Castle and envisaged a simple building in place of the old Vorderhohenschwangau Castle, but they were rejected and replaced by increasingly extensive drafts, culminating in a bigger palace modelled on the Wartburg.The king insisted on a detailed plan and on personal approval of each draft.
His control went so far that the palace has been regarded as his own creation rather than that of the architects involved.
Whereas contemporary architecture critics derided Neuschwanstein, one of the last big palace building projects of the 19th century, as kitsch, Neuschwanstein and Ludwig II's other buildings are now counted among the major works of European historicism.
Schloß Neuschwanstein - Plan - showing proposed un-built Chapel
Schloß Neuschwanstein under construction 1882-1885
Schloß Neuschwanstein under construction 1886
For financial reasons a project similar to Neuschwanstein – Schloß Fanstelkein (see left) – never left the planning stages.
King Ludwig II of Bavaria purchased the ruin - Castrum Pfronten (see right) - in 1883 and commissioned several architects, the first being Christian Jank (the designer of Neuschwanstein), to replace the existing structure with a romantic castle.
Jank first created a restrained design, but later envisioned the castle in a dramatic, High Gothic style.
Georg Dollmann was employed to produce plans and elevations in the same year based on Jank's design.
However, his modest and economical designs displeased Ludwig.
The task of redesigning Falkenstein was then given to Max Schultze, the Prince Thurn und Taxis' architect, who was flattered by the royal commission.
He not only planned the architecture of the castle in a robber baron's style (a highly simplified version of Jank's sketch), but also began creating the castle's interior design and frescos (in a secular Byzantine style) with the help of August Spieß.
Of particular note was Ludwig's bedroom, which was reminiscent of a vast chapel (see below).
During this time, in 1884, a road and water lines were made to service the site and a papier-mâché model of Schultze's plan was created.
However, Schultze withdrew from the project in 1885.
Julius Hofmann and Eugen Drollinger were chosen to succeed Schultze, although they knew that it was unlikely Falkenstein would ever be built.
Thus, they made their designs as spectacular and impractical as they wished.
Drollinger was working on a plan of Ludwig's bedchamber - redesigned to feature stained glass windows and a mosaic dome - when he learned of the King's death.
Ludwig died in 1886 before work on the castle proper could begin, and the many plans for Falkenstein were permanently abandoned.
The ruin of Castrum Pfronten on the building site was never demolished.
The Patrona Bavariae and Saint George on the court face of the Palas (main building) are depicted in the local Lüftlmalerei style, a fresco technique typical for Allgäu farmers' houses, while the unimplemented drafts for the Knights' House gallery foretell elements of Art Nouveau.
The basic style was originally planned to be neo-Gothic but was primarily built in Romanesque style in the end.
The operatic themes moved gradually from Tannhäuser and Lohengrin to Parsifal.
Bavaria, formally the Freistaat Bayern (Free State of Bavaria), is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of the country.
With an area of 70,548 square kilometres (27,200 sq mi), it is the largest German state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany.
Bavaria is Germany's second most populous state (after North Rhine-Westphalia) with almost 12.5 million inhabitants, more than any of the three sovereign states on its borders.
Bavaria's capital is Munich.
One of the oldest states of Europe, it was established as a duchy in the mid first millennium.
In the 17th century, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, and Bavaria has since been a free state (republic).
Modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia and Swabia.
Bavaria is renowned for its beautiful alpine scenery, which forms a superb backdrop for the magical castles built by the former King, Ludwig II.
However, his modest and economical designs displeased Ludwig.
The task of redesigning Falkenstein was then given to Max Schultze, the Prince Thurn und Taxis' architect, who was flattered by the royal commission.
He not only planned the architecture of the castle in a robber baron's style (a highly simplified version of Jank's sketch), but also began creating the castle's interior design and frescos (in a secular Byzantine style) with the help of August Spieß.
Of particular note was Ludwig's bedroom, which was reminiscent of a vast chapel (see below).
During this time, in 1884, a road and water lines were made to service the site and a papier-mâché model of Schultze's plan was created.
However, Schultze withdrew from the project in 1885.
Julius Hofmann and Eugen Drollinger were chosen to succeed Schultze, although they knew that it was unlikely Falkenstein would ever be built.
Thus, they made their designs as spectacular and impractical as they wished.
Drollinger was working on a plan of Ludwig's bedchamber - redesigned to feature stained glass windows and a mosaic dome - when he learned of the King's death.
Ludwig died in 1886 before work on the castle proper could begin, and the many plans for Falkenstein were permanently abandoned.
The ruin of Castrum Pfronten on the building site was never demolished.
The Patrona Bavariae and Saint George on the court face of the Palas (main building) are depicted in the local Lüftlmalerei style, a fresco technique typical for Allgäu farmers' houses, while the unimplemented drafts for the Knights' House gallery foretell elements of Art Nouveau.
The basic style was originally planned to be neo-Gothic but was primarily built in Romanesque style in the end.
The operatic themes moved gradually from Tannhäuser and Lohengrin to Parsifal.
for more information about Christian Jank, Fanstelkein and Parsifal see - http://greatartclassicalnude.blogspot.com/2010/12/great-art-german-art.html
for more information about Richard Wagner see:
Schloß Falkenstein - State Bedroom
CGI from original designs by Max Schultze and Drollinger
and inspired by Wagner's 'Parsifal'
In addition to Falkenstein, Ludwig also planned a Chinese Palace in the Alp.
Drawings were prepared by Christian Jank but Ludwig died before the project could move beyond the planning stage, (see below).
Chinese Palace
CGI from original designs by Christian Jank
Schloß Neuschwanstein
Neuschwanstein Castle, or "New Swan Stone Castle", is a dramatic Romanesque fortress with Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic interiors, which was built high above his father's castle: Hohenschwangau.
Numerous wall paintings depict scenes from the legends Wagner used in his operas.
Christian glory and chaste love figure predominantly in the iconography, and may have been intended to help Ludwig live up to his religious ideals, but the bedroom decoration depicts the illicit love of Tristan & Isolde (after Gottfried von Strasbourg's poem).
The castle was not finished at Ludwig's death; the Kemenate was completed in 1892 but the watch-tower and chapel were only at the foundation stage in 1886 and were never built.
The residence quarters of the King - which he first occupied in May 1884 - can be visited along with the servant's rooms, kitchens as well as the monumental throne room.
Unfortunately the throne was never completed although sketches show how it might have looked on completion.
Schloß Neuschwanstein
Schloß Neuschwanstein
Schloß Neuschwanstein - Autumn
Schloß Neuschwanstein
Schloß Neuschwanstein - Turm - (Tower)
Schloß Neuschwanstein - Turm - (Tower)
Schloß Neuschwanstein - Pforte
Schloß Neuschwanstein
SCHLOß NEUSCHWANSTEIN
I N T E R I O R
Vestibule - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Staircase - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Corridor - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Salon - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Study - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Study - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Salon - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Salon - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Chapel - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Grotto - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Minstrel's Hall - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Minstrel's Hall - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Minstrel's Hall - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Throne Hall - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Thronsaal - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Thronsaal - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Thronsaal - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Thronsaal - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Thronsaal - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Thronsaal - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Thronsaal Dome - Schloß Neuschwanstein
View from Schloß Neuschwanstein
View from Schloß Neuschwanstein
Schloß Neuschwanstein - Project
Schloß Neuschwanstein - Swan Fabric
Adolf Hitler visiting Schloß Herrenchiemsee
c1930s
Adolf Hitler visiting Schloß Herrenchiemsee
Wappen Freistaat Bayern
Bavaria, formally the Freistaat Bayern (Free State of Bavaria), is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of the country.
With an area of 70,548 square kilometres (27,200 sq mi), it is the largest German state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany.
Bavaria is Germany's second most populous state (after North Rhine-Westphalia) with almost 12.5 million inhabitants, more than any of the three sovereign states on its borders.
Bavaria's capital is Munich.
One of the oldest states of Europe, it was established as a duchy in the mid first millennium.
In the 17th century, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, and Bavaria has since been a free state (republic).
Modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia and Swabia.
Bavaria is renowned for its beautiful alpine scenery, which forms a superb backdrop for the magical castles built by the former King, Ludwig II.
for more information see
a fascinating, fully illustrated study of this
truly remarkable period of modern history
truly remarkable period of modern history
click here for 'Parsifal'
Richard Wagner's greates music drama
this blog is under construction - please be patient
for the art of Peter Crawford go to
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