Neuschwanstein fairytale castle named UNESCO Heritage Site

DW (English)

The Bavarian castle, which inspired the young Walt Disney, is one of the most popular attractions in Germany. Now it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What makes it so magical?

Transcript

00:00There it is, Neuschwanstein, Germany's most beloved castle.

00:04But what makes it so fascinating?

00:06Is it the stunning setting, the fairytale towers, or maybe its dramatic history?

00:13Neuschwanstein is famous around the world as the castle of the fairytale king Ludwig II of Bavaria.

00:19And now it has finally been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

00:24Every year, about one million people come to Bavaria just to see this place.

00:28But what exactly awaits them?

00:30And who was King Ludwig II, the man behind this magical creation?

00:35Let's find out.

00:37Follow me on a tour of the castle from the public-facing pomp to the king's most private quarters.

00:43I'll show you all you need to know before a visit.

00:47Neuschwanstein Castle is located near Hohenschwangau in Bavaria in southern Germany,

00:52about two hours by car from Munich.

00:58The crowds are huge year-round, even in the village below.

01:06Here you'll find souvenirs from swans to figurines of the king.

01:12You can buy tickets here, but it's better to book them online in advance.

01:15You can only go inside the castle as part of a guided tour at a specific time.

01:21Now you just have to get up to the castle.

01:26And then you have two options to get up.

01:28You can either walk, which takes about 30 minutes,

01:30or you can take a horse-drawn carriage for a more romantic and relaxed ride.

01:35From Zimmermann's Platz, located just below the castle,

01:44you get a first stunning close-up view.

01:49On the last stretch, you have no choice.

01:51The only way in is on foot.

01:54But before I go in, I want to know what brought the other visitors here.

01:57I think this is the Master B in Germany.

02:03It's very great, with long history, with very magnificent buildings, very good.

02:09Love it. Like, this is crazy.

02:11Man liest überall davon, man hört überall davon, also muss man es auch gesehen haben.

02:14The castle with the cliffs behind it and the ravine,

02:17we saw the bridge across that, that's a beautiful scenario.

02:20And then from the other way with the lake as well,

02:22it's two completely different scenarios that, yeah, I think, perfect location.

02:27Now, I finally get to go in.

02:31We had to wait until all the visitors were gone,

02:34because filming is only allowed outside opening hours.

02:37I get to enter through the courtyard.

02:44Patrick Kopp is going to guide me through the Fairytale King's castle.

02:48Would that have been in his interest to have millions of people walk through his dream castle?

03:02Not at all. Not at all.

03:04There's an anecdote that he actually said on his last stay here.

03:09He said to have said to his personal servant,

03:15please, Ritz, never let anybody go through here.

03:19So, no, it was not...

03:20So, we're effectively disrespecting his last wish here.

03:23They were, they were.

03:24Is that a good omen for a visit?

03:28Ludwig II grew up not far from here.

03:31Even after he became king, he preferred to stay in the Bavarian mountains

03:34rather than in his residence in Munich.

03:39What kind of a person was he?

03:42What was his personality?

03:43Do we know?

03:44We know quite a lot.

03:46He was a deep and contrasting character.

03:50He was a dreamer, certainly.

03:53An eccentric, certainly.

03:55Even more, becoming more eccentric the longer he lived.

03:59He liked art.

04:02He loved theater and music.

04:05Was not himself an artist, so.

04:07He liked to watch it.

04:08He didn't like a lot of the things that other young noblemen were meant to be liking.

04:16Hunting, soldiery, army.

04:18Didn't much care for that.

04:20Which set him apart from a lot of his peers in this time.

04:23And that might have been another reason why he wanted to get out and build his own world.

04:30Where he could be just himself.

04:34Neuschwanstein Castle was never completed.

04:37Many rooms remain empty to this day.

04:39The unfinished nature is visible even here in the richly decorated throne hall.

04:47So this is the throne room.

04:49But there is no throne.

04:52There is no throne.

04:53What is going on here?

04:55The throne, tragically, was one of the pieces that were never done when the king died.

05:00The royal family, they stopped investment right after the king died.

05:04Thought about what to do with it, made it a museum.

05:07But anything not yet started at this point was never done.

05:11They just finished up things.

05:12And one of the main things that are missing is the throne that should be standing up there.

05:18When you look left and right of the staircase, the twelve apostles, six sainted kings above the platform,

05:25where the throne would have been standing.

05:27And above them all, then, Jesus Christ, pointing to Louis II's view of kingship, sent by God to rule over certain people.

05:37Not the kingship he experienced in his time, but the old kingship, the old idea.

05:42There's a big symbol for that, too, kind of hidden in its meaning, but not to be overseen.

05:48You have a giant chandelier here in the center of the room, weighing nearly a ton, made of gilded brass, 96 candles alone on that.

05:58It's modeled on a Byzantine imperial crown, and is meant as a symbol for the old kings,

06:06because the crown hangs between the cupola, sun and stars, heaven, and the mosaic floor, animals, plants, earth.

06:16Showing where the old kings stood in their societies, between their subject on earth and God in heaven.

06:23Ludwig's fairy tale castle is full of contradictions.

06:26On one hand, it was an escape from the present into an idealized Middle Ages.

06:32On the other hand, it was equipped with all the perks of the technical progress of its time.

06:37From the kitchen, a small pattern nostril lift brought food to the king.

06:41There was running water, warm water even, and a telephone line to the servants.

06:48And this is where he slept?

06:50This is where he slept. This is the king's bedroom.

06:54It's not a king-size mattress, then.

06:56It isn't, yes. It's a single bed, though, you know.

07:02He was never married. He did have a fiancé in his youth, but they never married.

07:08So this was always intended as a place for one person.

07:12That also makes the bed a bit smaller than it would have been.

07:17No wife, a fiancé back in the day, any love interests that we might know about today.

07:24He was very likely homosexual without living it out.

07:30Because he was also very likely a true, deep Catholic believer, which made him not a very happy person, I guess.

07:37So there's stories and worse stories, but there's no real thing in the open.

07:45The fact that he had to hide that very substantial part of himself,

07:50do you think that contributed to him wanting to build this kind of fairytale world for him where he could hide from the real world?

07:58That might well be one of the aspects that led to that.

08:03Together, though, with all the other aspects, that him not really having the power he liked to,

08:11not having a lot of friends or peers that he connected to,

08:15not liking the city, just plain as that, he liked the countryside.

08:21So it's one aspect, out of many aspects in my view,

08:26that made him search for a place where he could, you know, build his own reality.

08:35One person Ludwig II felt close or kindred to, at least temporarily,

08:40was the composer Richard Wagner.

08:42It's noticeable all around, but mostly in the so-called singer's hall.

08:53The room, in total, is again a kind of stage set,

08:58because the king here tried to rebuild the singer's hall of Wartburg Castle.

09:03Wartburg Castle, a famous medieval castle in Germany,

09:06that appears in one of Richard Wagner's operas, Tannhäuser.

09:10So Ludwig II wanted to have a similar room for himself, on his own castle.

09:15Again, this kind of dream world, right?

09:18Unfortunately, a dream world that he himself never really got to enjoy.

09:22He did spend only two months here.

09:24Before, he was aged 40, he was declared insane and thus unfit to rule

09:30by a commission of the Bavarian government.

09:32Here's a tip for you.

09:34King Ludwig also had two other magnificent castles built.

09:37They too have recently been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites,

09:41and both are open to the public.

09:45Shortly after construction began on Neuschwanstein,

09:48Ludwig had Schloss Linderhof, built in the Ammergau Alps,

09:52a rather small, Rococo-style castle.

09:55And then there is Schloss Herren Chiemsee,

09:58a Baroque palace complex modeled after Versailles.

10:02The hall of mirrors is even two meters longer than the original in France.

10:09But back to Neuschwanstein.

10:11I absolutely have to show you the balcony.

10:17Wow.

10:17Yeah, as you said, that's exactly what I mean.

10:21That connection.

10:23I think the visit to Neuschwanstein is not complete

10:25if you can't appreciate the surroundings.

10:29Walk around the castle, come out here, enjoy that,

10:33spend some time in the surrounding landscape and enjoy.

10:44That was my day at Neuschwanstein already.

10:47So what is it that keeps enchanting people to this day?

10:50I think it's, of course, the beautiful scenery,

10:53the whimsical architecture, the dreamlike interiors,

10:56and maybe also, to some extent,

10:59that tragic, mysterious king behind it all.

11:03What about you?

11:04What did you like best?

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