Talk:Neuschwanstein Castle

Name

Nice image btw :) Should this article not be renamed "Neuschwanstein Castle", or is that name never used, even amongst English speakers? I'm thinking of Heidelberg Castle by comparison...Stevage 08:26, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Simpsons

isin't there a simpson episode where grandpa simpson is in the war & is in this castle stealing all these paintings (when he was part of that clan).....would this be what the episode is depicting(or playing with) as in this actual castle...? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.132.14.180 (talk) 10:10, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Stolen items

Many other items, such as gold snuff boxes, antique jewelry, furniture, and famous paintings (all stolen), were also stored at the castle. They were destined for Adolf Hitler's personal collection.

Was A. H. a pickpocket? I have never heard about this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.159.185.18 (talk) 12:50, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

I realize your question is very old, but yes, Hitler was a pickpocket on a world scale. He stole loads of famous artworks intending them to be for his personal use, or gifts to his closest adherents.67.189.148.191 (talk) 11:53, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

Flaws!

To small, terrible artice, must be instantly deleted. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Abyab (talk • contribs) 18:32, 12 May 2006 (UTC).

You don't speedily delete an article because it's small or it contains flaws; you expand it and you fix it. 70.172.212.3 20:51, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Well, you speedily delete an article for being small or incorrect at German Wikipedia, but here at English Wikipedia you expand it and fix it. User:Angr 10:52, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Schloss/Schloß

Why not keep the info about the spelling reform? That info is interesting, true, and trivial enough to belong in the trivia section. It is better to add more info to an article than to delete it. Please, before you delete it again, give me your reason here. Reywas92 19:30, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

I think it's more of an issue to be included in the article on the eszett. If it were included in this article, it could be included in almost any article about a German palace. I don't think it is necessary. Charles 20:54, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

Good point, but who says it has to go everywhere? Reywas92 21:28, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't, but why would it necessarily go here? If it can apply to every schloss, it should be left out altogether rather than mentioned, rather out of place, in the Neuschwanstein article. I think the discussion of the spelling reform should stay at the relevant articles. Charles 03:08, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

I concur with Charles. Noel S McFerran 11:37, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Me too. —Nightstallion (?) 12:11, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Copyrighted Interior

Is there some for the purported copyright on the interior of the castle? As far as I know, an interior is not a copyrightable work in any nation. I think this claim needs to be supported or removed. Swillden 15:39, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Trivia

I wonder whether the extensive list of trivia actually enhances this article, or detracts from it. I should be interested in others' thoughts. KJP1 08:46, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Some of it is rather important. I'd suggest a simple merge into the main article. Reywas92^Talk 21:46, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Answers from a tour guide

I'm a tour guide of Neuschwanstein and have been for over 3 years. First of all, I'd like to point out that technically Neuschwanstein is not a castle, only uneducated english speakers call it that. Neuschwanstein is a 19th century palace built in the style of a castle. There is no copyright of the interior, but no photos are allowed inside due to time constraints and souvenir sales. To answer the dungeon question above, no...there is no dungeon as it was built as a palace. --NOFXmike 13:32, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Plus, castle by definition is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages, which is not the case of the palace of Neuschwanstein. -Yamanbaiia (talk) 20:53, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

This is all a little pedantic, but its creator called it a castle, and he wasn't an uneducated english speaker. Nor have I ever seen it referred to elsewhere as Neuschwanstein Palace.

Also, why is this article so prone to vandalism? KJP1 (talk) 15:07, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

This article refers to Neuschwanstein by both castle & palace. The creator of it called it a castle, the literature and website from the Bavarian Palace Department (assuming NOT uneducated English speakers) refer to it as a castle. Quote from the "Idea and History"

"It is my intention to rebuild the old castle ruin of Hohenschwangau near the Pöllat Gorge in the authentic style of the old German knights' castles..." From the Wikipedia article

It does not say build a palace in the style of a castle.

It should be referred to consistently throughout the article - as a castle.Crcorr (talk) 08:47, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

Ludwig declared insane

This section has been removed. It had no pertinence at all with the whole article. I also rearranged images. --Attilios (talk) 09:18, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Disney Castle?

Isn't this the castle that was the inspiration for the Cinderella Castle? If so, shouldnt it be noted? Queerbubbles (talk) 18:17, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes it is (see [1]). The article used to have a section called "In popular culture" where this was mentioned, but the section was removed a while ago. Trivia sections are discouraged in general, but maybe the fact could be included elsewhere in the text? --Jopo (talk) 22:00, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

I've added it to the initial paragraph. Anoko moonlight (talk) 22:22, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Isn't this the castle that was the inspiration for the Cinderella Castle? If so, shouldnt it be noted? Queerbubbles (talk) 18:17, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes it is (see [2]). The article used to have a section called "In popular culture" where this was mentioned, but the section was removed a while ago. Trivia sections are discouraged in general, but maybe the fact could be included elsewhere in the text? --Jopo (talk) 22:00, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

I've added it to the initial paragraph. Anoko moonlight (talk) 22:22, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

(huffs) Wait JUST a minute, here, my fine friends! It was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty Castle...the Cinderella Castle was built later and is just a g-damn RIP-OFF of that earlier one! Outrageous. Codenamemary (talk) 01:05, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Removed part

Removed. Nice, but must be rewritten as a wikipedia article:

My personal observations and the tour guides' information are as follows:The castle sits atop a hill some 200-300 feet above the village and the white walls reflect the sun beautifully.The castle is reached by a narrow switchback road that leads up to the front gate.It took seventeen years to build the castle.Inside the front gate is a flagstoned courtyard.The kitchen is on the first floor(Erdgeschloss) and has several massive woodburning cookstoves.Continueing toward the back of the castle through many interconnecting rooms,and up three floors one comes to the throne room in the very back of the castle,to the left of the above picture.The back of the castle looks down upon the village.The throne room is wonderfully painted and frescoed with Christian motifs,including Angels on the ceiling.There is no throne,only a raised dais at one end of the room,as the King was removed from power before one could be made.The reason the Kings death is mysterious is that even though he was an excellent swimmer,he was found drowned in the lake that can be seen from the windows of the throne room.Through several more interconnecting rooms is the Kings personal bedroom.It is quite small but contains a fabulously carved bedstead that overarches the matress.Woodcarvers worked on that bed for two years.The circular towers in the outside walls as seen in above picture are circular stairwells.The castle has forced air central heating,with the coal fired furnace in the basement.We came out into the courtyard and the tour guide told us that the tour did not include the other 360 (three hundred fifty six)rooms.I didn't think to ask if the castle has a dungeon.

I gave this part a separate section. I'll see if I can add some of the facts in this piece. Anoko moonlight (talk) 22:25, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Architectural style

Buildings are categorized by style too. Is this castle Gothic Revival? – Alensha ^talk 16:40, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Someone repeatedly described its architectural style as "romantic" throughout the article. I've revised "romantic" to "Romanesque" and "neo-romantic" to "Romanesque Revival" in several places, because the Romantic period in architecture--of which Neuschwanstein is a fine late example--manifested itself in diverse loosely historical movements--Greek Revival, Egyptian Revival, Gothic Revival, Romanesque Revival, and so on. Neuschwanstein's prominent style is Romanesque, though the throne room is supposed to be Byzantine and the king's bedroom is Gothic. In revising, I left "romantic" in the article wherever it wasn't being used specifically to characterize the building's architectural style. 206.208.105.129 (talk) 19:23, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, I guess it was my translation error when I translated large parts of the German article. The German term is Neoromanisch (not Neoromantisch), and Romanesque Revival looks as if it fits. Hans Adler 19:50, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Wagner

I watched the mini series Wagner recently. It was entertaining but full of historical inaccuracies. There is a scene where Richard Burton, playing the role of Richard Wagner, is lying in bed in Neuschwanstein and is awakened by the sound of a haunting trumpet fanfare (from Lohengrin). As Wagner (Burton) walks around several of the castle's rooms, murals depicting scenes from Germanic legends (presumably related to his operas), are shown. I believe such murals exist within the palace. Question; although the complex was not completed until three years after Wagner's death, does anyone have any information whether he was a guest of Ludwig II's at the complex during it's construction? Thanks. Dr. Dan (talk) 18:29, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Beware of mini-series. However, this a grain of truth, but the wrong castle. When Wagner stayed at Schloss Hohenschwangau (just down the road from Newshwanstein) in November 1865, Ludwig arranged for the morning call from Lohengrin to be played from several of the castle's towers by the oboe players of the 1t Infantry Regiment. Wagner's stay ended with a huge firework didplay and son et lumiere on the lake. As far as I'm aware Wagner never visited Neuschwanstein.  Giano  10:22, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Yes, according to information I copied from the German article without having the reference myself, Wagner never set foot into Neuschwanstein. See the last paragraph of the Construction section. Hans Adler 11:41, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Thank you both for the trouble to answer and the information as well. Best. Dr. Dan (talk) 18:17, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Time line

While working on the article I will keep a time line here, since some threads are intertwined both temporally and logically, making things a bit tricky.

• 1813: Wagner is born
• August 1845: Ludwig II is born
• October 1845: Tannhäuser premiere
• March 1848: Ludwig I abdicates (Lola Montez affair), Maximilian II becomes king
• April 1848: Otto is born
• August 1850: Lohengrin premiere
• March 1864: Maximilian II dies, Ludwig becomes king
• May 1864: Wagner in Munich, meets Ludwig
• May 1866: Austro-Prussian War starts; Ludwig visits Wagner in Switzerland
• July 1866: war ends
• November/December 1866: Ludwig's only tour through his country (Franken)
• January 1867: spontaneous engagement with Sophie (shortly after a letter in which Ludwig wrote: "The main substance of our relationship has always been ... Richard Wagner's remarkable and deeply moving destiny.")
• May 1867: Wartburg visit (with Otto)
• July 1867: Château de Pierrefonds visit
• October 1867: Ludwig dissolves engagement
• February 1868: Ludwig I dies, appanage is now available for building expenses
• 1868: Ruins of twin castles demolished
• February 1869: Work on Gatehouse starts
• September 1869: Palas foundation stone
• 1870: Kaiserbrief
• 1870: Society for worker insurance
• 1871: secret Welfenfonds income starts
• (1872: original planned completion date)
• 1873: Gatehouse furnished
• 1874: Riedel -> von Dollmann
• 1876: last more or less public appearance (dress rehearsal in Bayreuth)
• 1880: Palas roofing ceremony
• 1884: king moves into Palas; von Dollmann -> Hoffmann
• 1885: mother Marie received in Neuschwanstein
• 1886: Palas externally finished
• early 1886: cabinet denies credit of 6 million marks to king
• April 1886: Ludwig follows Bismarck's advice to apply for the money to the Landtag
• June 1886: incapacitation, arrest, death, funeral

Hans Adler 19:54, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia at its best

In 2006, this article was described, rather illiterately, thus; "To small, terrible artice, must be instantly deleted". It's now fantastic; interesting, informative and beautifully illustrated. All hail to Hans.

KJP1 (talk) 20:00, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Most photographed building

This is an interesting, well-presented article. I am however concerned about the "most photographed building in Germany" in the lead. The problem with such statements is that they tend to be copied and recopied all over the internet until the claim appears to be a fact. I would argue that there are other buildings in Germany, especially in Berlin, which attract just as many photographers. But no one bothers to stand around counting the people with cameras. The other problem is that there is no reference to Neuschwanstein's popularity with photographers in the article itself.

I therefore suggest that if you want to keep this in, you should say something like "widely claimed to be Germany's most photographed building" (with a valid reference of course) and then expand on it in the body of the article. The alternative it to simply leave it out. Ipigott (talk) 11:26, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out. I haven't really worked much on the lead yet, and just today thought this is really too silly and should go. Will address this later, along with a few other changes. Hans Adler 12:23, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Cost of the Castle now ?

How much would it be valued at current currency rates ?

Supercars (talk) 19:31, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Why not this photo?

It's perfect:

Looking up towards Neuschwanstein Castle 2011

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Futbol vic (talk • contribs) 02:15, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

In what way? The castle is shrouded in cloud and the trees are more prominent. It might make a fun holiday snap but it doesn't add much to an encyclopedia article. Nev1 (talk) 00:15, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

Why not the one from the German article?

Blick von der Marienbrücke (Neuschwanstein)

The current picture is a nice shot, but the scaffolding obscures many details of the building.

Stefanmuc (talk) 13:24, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

Castle Falkenstein

Ludwig was planing to build a new castle, castle Falkenstein, he die befor he can build it. Here is a picture.

Castle Falkenstein

Why is this not in the article? -- J-bay (talk) 12:14, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

that would go in the Ludwig page because it is about him and not this specific castle 61.68.105.229 (talk) 09:25, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Tristan and Isolde

Why is there no mention in this entry on Neuschwanstein about the Tristan and Isolde legend, and the artwork from that story in the Bedroom? It seems like Wagner's opera was performed there from my memory of the tour through the castle, but maybe the tour guide was winging it, or my memory is not as good as it used to be. Here is documentation on the artwork but I have nothing but a memory about the opera performance.

http://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/idea/sagas/tristan.htm  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Metapunk (talk • contribs) 03:57, 6 July 2012 (UTC) 

I think Ludwig planned to use the Saengersaal on the top floor for staging operas...but it never happened. I have a guidebook at home and will check if it has anything to say on this. The German-language entry for Neuschwanstein on Wikipedia says that the first staging here took place only in 1933, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Wagner's death. Drow69 (talk) 15:46, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Concerts and recitals, perhaps, but the Saengersaal has nothing like the space or facilities needed to produce one of Wagner's massive music dramas, which strain even big opera houses. Solicitr (talk) 20:16, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

map

can we have a map like Hohenzollern_Castle

thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.93.14.29 (talk) 07:13, 25 July 2012 (UTC)

Stop plugging other castles here

There is no collection of world's Gothic clocks photos on Big Ben's article page, there is no gallery of towers on the Eiffel tower page, there is no modern skyscraper gallery on the Empire State Building page. Likewise there will NOT be a gallery of other castles in this Neuschwanstein page.

The fact that a group of buildings are of similar type, that alone is not sufficient reason to splatter pages with plug-photos of other buildings that have no relation other than façade similarity. The WRITTEN part about other similar structures has direct links to other castles and that is more than enough! Loginnigol (talk) 11:33, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

Painting of Neuschwanstein Castle

I have a painting of the castle that was brought to the United States by my father in 1953-54.I would like to find out who the artist is. The frame appears to be the original and can be compared to several frame styles of the late 1930's to early 1940's.An inscription on the back of the frame reads kunstmaler czizmo gmund/leg mangfalls? If anyone has any information on this, I would like very much to find the history of the painting. The initials on the bottom of the painting are A E. There is appears to be a letter at the beginning of the initials that may be an "H" but not positive. Please help find the history of the painting! Thank you for your cooperation and information! Michael Pruitt Oklahoma USA — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:5B0:24FF:CF0:0:0:0:38 (talk) 18:16, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

Mass Media Appearances

• Disneyland, Disneyworld, all Disney movies. Neuschwanstein Castle is the model for Cinderella's castle and Sleeping Beauty's castle.
• Film: The Monuments Men (2014) where art objects are stored in the castle during World War II.

File:Schloss Neuschwanstein 2013.jpg to appear as POTD

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Schloss Neuschwanstein 2013.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on March 26, 2015. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2015-03-26. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 03:34, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

Picture of the day

Neuschwanstein Castle is a Romanesque Revival palace commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in 1868. This castle on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau was intended to be Ludwig's personal retreat, though it was still under construction at the time of his death in 1886. It was soon thereafter opened to tourists, and remains a popular destination. Its architecture has inspired several further buildings, including Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.Photograph: Thomas Wolf

Disneyland?

The article on Sleeping Beauty Castle reads that the structure was inspired by Château d'Ussé in France. There's a disconnect somewhere.--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 01:06, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

Renaming to "Schloss Neuschwanstein"

Hi, I think this article should be renamed "Schloss Neuschwanstein". For a number of reasons:

• It's the actual name of the building. At Wiki, we switched to using native names for schloss buildings.
• It's called "Schloss" in German, because it's basically a palace. Otherwise it'd be called "Burg" ("Castle"), but it was never fortified like medieval castles. It's a romantic vision of a castle, but functionally a palace.
• We'd avoid confusion with similar cases. Much too often, the German "Schloss" is still translated as "Castle", which is bonkers.

Input welcome! I'll leave this open for opinions for two weeks. Cheers, Horst-schlaemma (talk) 10:04, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose because this castle is among the most famous in the world, and in English it is far best known as "Neuschwanstein Castle" (although often also informally {and incorrectly?} called "The [original] Sleeping Beauty Castle"). Very few English speakers would ever look it up under "Schloss" because, unlike Château, it has never become either a common or specialized word in use in English. Also, I don't agree that Schloss only correctly correlates to "palace". Both Schloss and "castle" are commonly used in each language to refer to either fortified or unfortified aristocratic mansions, particularly those historically associated with royalty or titled nobility, i.e. Residenzen. While there may be an ongoing change in usage in German architecture or in the German language to restrict Schloss to mean a fortified mansion, no such equivalent movement is transpiring in English usage, and I certainly don't see evidence on English Wikipedia of restricting the term "castle" to buildings that are, in German-speaking lands, called "Burg". If you want to start a new "correct" trend, why not "Neucschwanstein Palace"? Although I would still oppose that term because this building is so extremely well known in English as a castle. FactStraight (talk) 04:52, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

• As much as I prefer to use the original German, the common name in English is the current title, so I oppose the move. Reywas92^Talk 21:03, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

Lede protesteth too much (about the non-use of Bavarian public funds)?

The opening paragraph of the lede ends with:

"Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds."

There's something out-of-place about that, especially in the lede, and particularly the "rather than". It suggests that maybe there has been a controversy over how Ludwig paid for the castle, and that in the past he was perhaps blamed for using public funds. I'd suggest two changes:

1. Make explicit why the "rather than" is there. As it stands the reader is left thinking "Bavarian public funds? Why are they mentioning Bavarian public funds? Has someone accused Ludwig of misusing Bavarian public funds? OMG, the funds, the funds, the funds! Quick; someone check the Bavarian public funds!!"
2. Move it out of the lede. Unless it is somehow deeply embedded in the nature of the castle itself, neither the fact that Ludwig paid for it out of his own or borrowed money, *nor* the fact that he did *not* use Bavarian public funds, really merit a place in the lede. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:6000:F340:A500:F5C0:D1B1:736D:A215 (talk) 19:31, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

It's in there because it is an oft-repeated myth (including an earlier version of this page and Ludwig's bio page), widely believed, that Ludwig "bankrupted the Bavarian state" with his castle-building extravagances. It's hardly "protesting too much" when there really is something to protest. Solicitr (talk) 20:13, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

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World War II section

I think A.H.'s picture (and hence mentioning about him) should be removed from this article since he has nothing to do with this beautiful castle. Otherwise, it seems like popularization of A.H., as if this horrid creature wasn't entirely bad because he made great painintgs. 37.215.55.128 (talk) 15:35, 7 October 2024 (UTC)

Why shouldn't we leave it as a testament of what war (in this case World War I) can do to a man's psyche? Peaceray (talk) 02:28, 8 October 2024 (UTC)