Neuschwanstein Castle Trivia | 40 facts about the landmark

The Neuschwanstein Castle is considered as the “real” Disney Castle, and it is located in Germany.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th-century historicist palace.
2. It is located on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany.
3. The palace was commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and in honour of Richard Wagner.
4. Ludwig chose to pay for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds.
5. Construction began in 1869.
6. It was never fully completed.
7. The castle was intended as a private residence for the King, until he died in 1886.
8. It was open to the public shortly after his death.
9. Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle.
10. More than 1.3 million people visit annually.
11. 6,000 of them visit it per day in the summer.
12. The municipality of Schwangau lies at an elevation of 800 m (2,620 ft) at the southwest border of the German state of Bavaria.
13. Its surroundings are characterised by the transition between the Alpine foothills in the south (toward the nearby Austrian border) and a hilly landscape in the north that appears flat by comparison.
14. In the Middle Ages, three castles overlooked the villages. One was called Schwanstein Castle.
15. In 1832, Ludwig’s father King Maximilian II of Bavaria bought its ruins to replace them with the comfortable neo-Gothic palace known as Hohenschwangau Castle.
16. Finished in 1837, the palace became his family’s summer residence, and his elder son Ludwig (born 1845) spent a large part of his childhood here.
17. Vorderhohenschwangau Castle and Hinterhohenschwangau Castle sat on a rugged hill overlooking Schwanstein Castle, two nearby lakes (Alpsee and Schwansee), and the village.
18. Separated by only a moat, they jointly consisted of a hall, a keep, and a fortified tower house.
19. In the nineteenth century only ruins remained of the twin medieval castles, but those of Hinterhohenschwangau served as a lookout place known as Sylphenturm.
20. The ruins above the family palace were known to the crown prince from his excursions. He first sketched one of them in his diary in 1859.
21. When the young king came to power in 1864, the construction of a new palace in place of the two ruined castles became the first in his series of palace building projects.
22. Ludwig called the new palace New Hohenschwangau Castle; only after his death was it renamed Neuschwanstein.
23. The confusing result is that Hohenschwangau and Schwanstein have effectively swapped names: Hohenschwangau Castle replaced the ruins of Schwanstein Castle, and Neuschwanstein Castle replaced the ruins of the two Hohenschwangau Castles.
24. Construction took more than seven times longer than expected
25. The castle is featured in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
26. This one may come as less of a surprise but is well worth a mention.
27. In the 1968 film, the Bavarian castle was the filming location for the shots of the outside of evil Baron Bomburst’s castle, which the family fly over in the car in one memorable scene.
28. Neuschwanstein is the inspiration for the Disney castle
29. Walt Disney was so inspired by its fairytale architecture, that he used it to create Cinderella’s castle in the 1950 cartoon film.
30. Neuschwanstein is also the basis for the Disney logo, shown before every Disney film.
31. Also, it’s the Cinderella Castle in Disneyworld Florida and the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland Paris.
32. The decorations were inspired by Wagner’s operas
33. Many of the pictures in the castle are inspired by the operas of Richard Wagner, or rather the medieval stories which inspired them.
34. The stories depicting love, guilt, penance, and salvation are the themes in the wall paintings of the castle. King Ludwig II was a close personal friend of Wagner and his benefactor
35. He even dedicated Neuschwanstein to the composer.
36. Although the castle takes inspiration from the architecture of the middle ages, Ludwig II ensured that it was fitted with all the latest technology of the time.
37. There was running water throughout, including hot and cold water in the kitchen, an electric bell system for servants, telephones, a hot air central heating system and a lift. What’s more, all of this was at a time when such technology was practically unheard of. T
38. he castle was also built with steam-powered cranes as the building site was so difficult to reach.
39. Neuschwanstein needs continuous work to remain in its highly preserved state. The limestone façades are damaged by the mountain harsh climate and have to be renovated section by section over the coming years. Movement in the foundation area also has to be continuously monitored, and the sheer rock cliffs of the hill must be repeatedly secured to prevent parts of the structure slipping down the mountain.
40. During his lifetime, King Ludwig II called the palace the ‘Neue Burg Hohenschwangau’ after the nearby Hohenschwangau castle where he had spent much of his childhood. Hohenschwangau was painted with scenes of medieval legends which Ludwig II wanted to emulate in his new castle, for example in the works of art depicting characters of kings, knights, poets and lovers.