Credit: Thomas Wolf
Neuschwanstein Castle, commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner. The young king was so moved by Wagner's opera Lohengrin, based on the legend of the Swan Knight, that he named his castle "New Swan Stone," or "Neuschwanstein". It was King Ludwig's patronage that later gave Wagner the means to build a theatre for, compose and stage his epic cycle, The Ring of the Nibelung.