Schloss Linderhof is a palace in southwest Bavaria, Germany, near the village of Ettal. It is the smallest and the only completed palace of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who lived there from 1876 until his death in 1886. Schloss Linderhof was inspired by the palace of Versailles in France, especially the style of Louis XIV, the Sun King. However, it also reflects Ludwig’s personal taste and imagination, as well as the landscape and culture of Bavaria.
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The palace was built on the site of a former hunting lodge that belonged to Ludwig’s father, King Maximilian II. Ludwig enlarged and transformed the lodge into a rococo palace with stone façades and lavish interiors. He also added three new rooms and a staircase to the U-shaped complex. The palace cost about 8.5 million marks to construct.
The palace has only four rooms that serve a real function: the bedroom, the dining room, the audience room, and the living room. The bedroom is the largest and most important room, as it symbolizes the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV and Ludwig’s self-image as a Night-King. The dining room features a mechanical table that could be lowered to the kitchen below and raised again with the food, allowing Ludwig to dine alone without servants. The audience room and the living room are decorated with portraits of French kings and courtiers, as well as scenes from French history and mythology.
The palace is surrounded by a large park that contains several buildings and attractions, such as the Venus Grotto, a artificial cave with a lake and a waterfall, where Ludwig could enjoy Wagner’s operas in a boat; the Moorish Kiosk, a pavilion with an oriental design and a peacock throne; the Moroccan House, a replica of a North African dwelling with exotic furniture and weapons; the Hunding’s Hut, a rustic cottage from Wagner’s opera The Valkyrie; and the Hermitage of Gurnemanz, a neo-Gothic chapel from Wagner’s opera Parsifal.
Schloss Linderhof is one of the four palaces that Ludwig II built or planned to build during his reign. The others are Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee, and the unfinished Falkenstein. These palaces are considered as Ludwig’s built dreams, as they express his artistic vision and his longing for a different world. In 2019, these palaces were officially nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage List, as they represent a unique cultural phenomenon and a testimony to Ludwig’s legacy.