GERMANY 2000: NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE, FUSSEN, AND THE WEISKIRCHE

 December 18, 2000

Neuschwanstein Castle is one of those places that everyone has seen, at least on postcards and calendars and in travel guides. With 1.5 million visitors a year, it is one of the most popular tourist sites in Europe. We were excited to visit and see it with our own eyes.  It did not disappoint, at least on the outside. It is very photogenic. These are brochure clippings from my scrapbook:

And this is information about King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who built it. It makes a great story!

Located on the northern edge of the Alps about 60 miles southwest of Munich and not too far from the Austrian border, the castle is perched half-way up a mountain and can be seen from a distance on approach.

King Ludwig planned for this castle to be his private residence and paid for it out of his personal fortune. Construction began in 1869, but Ludwig died in 1886 before it was completed. It became a museum the year after his death.

Horse drawn carriages take visitors up a road to the entrance, but we elected to walk as we had plenty of time before we were scheduled to enter.

Another castle is visible from Neuschwanstein's grounds--Hohenschwangau Castle, dating back to the 12th century. It fell to ruin and was purchased by King Ludwig II's father, King Maximillian II, who had it rebuilt and used it as a summer residence. King Ludwig spent a few weeks each summer here, so it's no surprise that he built his own castle nearby.

Waiting for our entrance time . . . 

We were actually quite disappointed by the interior. My recollection is that it was drab and dull and really wasn't furnished. It certainly didn't look like the images on this postcard. No photography was allowed inside, so I don't have any record of my own.

Our youngest son took these photos through the car window as we made our way to the closest town, Füssen, settled in Roman times and now having a population of about 16,000. 

It is significant that I wrote in our scrapbook that Bob would like to return to Füssen. I need to remind him of that.

An "enchanting mountain town" indeed.

After driving about 13 miles north, we arrived in Steingaden, a tiny hamlet of 2,900 people that boasts two magnificent attractions, the Steingaden Abbey, which we didn't visit, and the Wies Church, or Wieskirche, which we did.  

Wieskirche is a much better name than "Church of the Flagellated Saviour in the Meadow," don't you think? The latter name comes from the legend that in 1738, tears appeared on a worn out wooden carving of the scourged Christ in a small local chapel. The story led to a rush of visitors, and this church was commissioned as a shrine for the pilgrims. It was completed in 1754.

  

Here are the kids and I standing outside the oval-shaped church. The church is surrounded by grazing lands for sheep and horses.

The rococo interior of the church led to its UNESCO World Heritage Site designation in 1983.

The simple statue of the scourged Christ is now housed in a niche at the base of an exquisite altarpiece.

Here is a better image that I found online:

Photo from here

After we returned home, my mother gave me this page from her own scrapbook of Germany with the words "Die Wies" church handwritten at the bottom.

Here are a few more photos from our scrapbook. They make me a bit dizzy. Apparently we had a hard time holding the camera straight.

READING

I really enjoyed Not So Happily Ever After: The Tale of King Ludwig II by Susan Barnett Braun. It is short--just 152 pages, and the author does a good job of keeping the people and events in "Mad King Ludwig's" life to a manageable size.  I came away really liking the quirky, reclusive king with his passion for Richard Wagner's music and Louis XIV's style. The author succeeded in convincing me that he might have been crazy, but he also might not have been crazy. And did he commit suicide, or was he murdered? Both options are possible. Now that I have read more about his life, I would like to go back to see the other castles he built.