EXPLORING
NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE

Castles are important to study because they hold all kinds of secrets. They show things about the past, like who lived in them and how people used to live. Ludwig built and lived in Neuschwanstein Castle, and the castle’s architecture and design reveal a lot about Ludwig and his personality. For example, because the Swan Knight was Ludwig’s favorite fairy tale, images of swans are all over the castle. There are sofas, pictures, vases, and wood carvings of swans everywhere. He even made a sink faucet that looked like a swan.
If you visit the castle, try and count how many swans you can see on the tour.

Ludwig put a lot of thought into every part of the castle—even his bed! His bed was made with beautiful, dark wood and had pictures carved into the sides. His blankets and sheets were made with a deep, blue silk and were covered with pictures of lions, swans, crowns, and flowers. He also had images of fairy tales painted on the walls so that he could look at them as he fell to sleep.

One of the most unusual things about the castle is its magical cave. This room is called the Grotto and it was made to look like the inside of a real cave. The room was dark and had colorful lights and a waterfall so that it felt like you were hidden away. This room was inspired by one of the sets of Richard Wagner’s operas, which features a beautiful grotto that Ludwig wanted to copy.

Ludwig tried to think of everything when creating the magical castle of his dreams. He wanted to make sure that his castle was one of a kind and that no other castle could ever compete with Neuschwanstein Castle. In order to make his castle unique and distinctive, Ludwig used two different styles in the design.

THE ROMANESQUE STYLE

This style can be easily identified from outside of the castle. The tall pointy towers are a clue that the castle was built using the Romanesque (roe-man-esk) style. Some of the other ideas Ludwig used from this style are:.
• large towers
• lots of arches that are decorated to look fancy
• very high ceilings
• rounded windows

It is important for us to study castles so that we can learn about the people who built them. We know a lot about Ludwig because of the way he built Neuschwanstein Castle and the small details he put into its creation.

Think of some of the castles you’ve seen in books and movies. Do any of those castles use one or both of these styles?

THE ROMANTIC STYLE

This style is one seen everywhere around the castle and was a popular style for castles during Ludwig’s time. Castles made in this style have:
• gargoyles
• images of nature and animals carved into wood or stone
• large courtyards