Linderhof Palace

The " Royal Villa" of Linderhof Palace in the Upper Bavarian town of Ettal in southern Bavaria is a castle of bavarian king Ludwig II, was built in several phases from 1870 to 1886. This small castle was built in place of the so-called "King cottage " of his father, Max II, which was in 1874 transferred to a place about 200 meters west of the present castle.

Schloss Linderhof is the smallest of the three castles of Ludwig II and the only one that was not completed in his lifetime. Linderhof is considered the favorite castle of the " Fairytale King ", in which he most frequently stayed by far. The castle and gardens are open to visitors. In 2009, 451,000 visitors.

The castle building

Architectural History

There was originally a simple farmhouse from 1790, which was rebuilt under Max II in the mid-19th century as a hunting seat at the site of the later castle Linderhof. This royal house was built as a regional wooden house on a stone base, the actual Linderhof was a neighboring farm on whose land there was the hunting lodge.

From 1868 - Ludwig II had been four years earlier crowned at the age of 18 years - the young king began with the first plans for several castles outside of him verleideten capital Munich. From his interest in medieval knight culture and musical legends Richard Wagner emerged as the first designs for the Neuschwanstein castle, was begun in 1869. 1867 the king had begun work on the material culture at the courts of absolutist kings of France, Louis XIV, XV. and XVI. to employ. In this context, matured at Ludwig. II ideas to build in Graswangtal near the cabin a castle modeled after the Palace of Versailles, which should be devoted to the French Bourbon kings. This project was initially called Meicost - Ettal, which is ( " I am the state " ) negotiated an anagram of Louis XIV ascribed citation L' État, c'est moi. The grounds of the narrow valley proved for the planned palace as too small, and so the palace was finally built in 1878 on the Lord in the Chiemsee, the New Castle Herrenchiemsee.

I joined as an alternative for Linderhof, the idea of a smaller hideaway ( hideaway ) analogous to that of Louis XIV from 1678 built near Versailles pavilion system of Marly on. After 1869, the royal house had been remodeled in Graswangtal inside, Ludwig II had on his terms in 1870 by the architect Georg von Dollman expand the building initially a east wing to the north. The new wing was designed by then as a single piece. It contained one main room upstairs on an oval ground plan with two annexes on hufeneisenförmigem floor plan, quoting typical floor plans of Baroque architecture. A representative facade on the basis of this era, however, he did not possess.

II From the spring of 1871 the Company initiated a structured west wing added and both buildings complemented by a connecting wing on the north side ( mountain side ) containing a first ( not preserved ) version of the royal bedroom. It was a magnificent bed on the south wall, so as today was the view through the window to the north of the mountain slope. The Köngigshäuschen was still in the south, but now outside the new nördsüdlichen central axis. Ludwig did not tear down the cabin because he had a high emotional attachment to the building.

III. As of February 1873 then the castle was surrounded with stone facades inspired by the Rococo style and the roof completed. In the following year the Royal house was moved to its current location, about two hundred yards west of the palace, where it is still located. The resulting open southern flank was closed by the south wing, so Linderhof since then forms a compact castle. In the south wing Ludwig taught at the level of the older rooms a small series of rooms arranged symmetrically grouped around the south-facing mirror salon in the center axis and as enfilade ( in one axis opening doors ) afforded. 1876 ​​, this area was completed inside. Access to the main floor successes now has a vestibule on the ground floor of the south wing and a two-armed staircase in the former courtyard of the building. 1874 was also the planning of the park by Hofgarten Director Carl Joseph Effner, which spread especially in front of the new southern main entrance and facade.

IV 1885/1886 has been extended as the last construction project the bedroom to its present size by Julius Hofmann and the work was done after the death of Louis in simplified form to an end.

Schloss Linderhof cited in shape French pleasure-houses ( Maisons de Plaisance ) of the 18th century, who knew Louis from contemporary art treatises and later descriptions. Likewise motives of the Bavarian rococo in the Munich Residenz and Nymphenburg Palace ( Amalienborg Castle ) will be addressed. In the forest, however, there is a separate building with no direct role models. Of considerable importance is the fact that SM Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, used in construction on Linderhof Palace to a considerable extent wood from the environment and the work by local woodworkers had run. It is not to be the castle that it is actually built completely out of wood and covered with plaster. At about this time, led the king and the " continued pay in case of illness " a.

The interiors

Schloss Linderhof, through its varied architectural history of a complex, yet symmetrical floor plan. The first floor with the living rooms of the King hosts a total of two large halls, the stairs, nearly four horseshoe-shaped cabinets, each an oval dining room and study, as well as the Hall of Mirrors flanking Tapestry. In the nördsüdlich extending central axis are the largest rooms of the castle - the bedroom in the north and the Hall of Mirrors in the south - the lateral wings accommodate the smaller salons and cabinets. All rooms are richly furnished in the style of Neo-Rococo, hardly a wall or ceiling surface is without decoration. The designs for the interiors are the Members of Christian Jank. The dining room of the castle is similar to the dining room on Herrenchiemsee, equipped with a wishing table, that is, that the table of the dining room could be left in the kitchen by a mechanism down. There he was met and driven by hand back up, so that the king could dine without the presence of his servants.

The largest room on Linderhof is the north-facing royal bedroom, now in a second version to life. It is similar in appearance to the bedroom of the French Sun King, but designed in different shapes and colors. As in Versailles ( or the Munich Residence ) one finds a separation of the bed part from the rest of the space, which would allow to keep the first and last audience of a day at bed, as did the Sun King. Ludwig's - of Bavaria - times this vision, however, was passé: The King of Constitutional Monarchy Bavaria a completely different political significance than the absolute rulers of France. The worship of the French royal house by Ludwig II can be found in numerous other details. Thus, scenes from the life are in the ceiling of the dining room shown at the court of Versailles, the horseshoe-shaped cabinets with portraits of French courtiers and nobles - including Madame Pompadour and Madame du Barry - and decorated in an ornate vase staircase from the manufactory of Sèvres is issued.

The castle garden

With the construction of the castle and the castle garden was created 1874-1880, responsible for the planning Ludwig II Carl von Effner. The park mixed in various garden forms: Around the castle, a formal garden is united of the bonds from the Baroque and Rococo Gardens in itself. The ornamental gardens surrounding, large park within the Graswangtals follows the examples of English landscape gardens with groups of trees and winding paths.

The formal garden is approximately cross-shaped, the center of this cross is the castle with the large pool in front, from which shoots up to twenty-two meters high fountain. Along the aligned north-south main axis of the garden, the course of the terrain rises following, before and behind the castle up the hill and is organized by terraces and stairs. The lateral areas are decorated Bosketten similar. The entire palace park Linderhofs is provided with numerous follies and Follies. On the hill of the terraces there is a small temple of Venus, the hill behind the bedroom wing is decorated with a cascade and ends in the so-called Neptune Fountain. As exotic car parks can be found next to the Royal houses including the Moorish Kiosk, the Moroccan House, the so-called Hunding and the Hermitage of Gurnemanz. A particular building is the artificial grotto, which refers to Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser and was designed as an interpretation of the grotto in the Venusberg.

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