A Castle Full of Secrets: Neuschwanstein

Good morning!  I need to change up my reviews after a string of documentary stinkers.  It does make me sad to have put out a string of horrible documentary reviews, but at least your teacher knows which documentaries to avoid showing to a history class.  Why not do a documentary on Neuschwanstein Castle?  The run time for this documentary is 51:30 and is part of the History Stories Special on DW.  It is called A Castle Full of Secrets: Neuschwanstein.  It is a German-produced documentary with English narration and subtitles.

Neuschwanstein Castle is a place of myths and legends.  It was a childhood dream of a future King and became one of the most exciting building projects in the world.  The foundation stone was laid on September 5, 1869, by King Ludwig II of Bavaria.  He would not live long enough to live in this lovely castle.  His sudden death gave the castle its legendary status.  Soon after his death, the castle was opened to show the public how crazy the dead king one.  It would survive two world wars and would become the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty.

The story begins with Ludwig’s childhood home, a grand castle that was rebuilt.  Ludwig was a dreamer growing up and was not interested in politics.  He preferred to explore the grounds around his childhood home.  The first documentaries about King Ludwig were made in the 1960s and these documentaries would have featured his childhood home.  The castle would have been decorated with scenes from the Medieval Period.  He would have grown up being inspired by fair maidens and heroes.  He even wrote poetry about becoming a knight.  He would have been inspired to build his own castle.

At eighteen Ludwig enjoyed his fantasy world and did not care to dwell in reality.  He would have been surprised when his father died.  He was going to be king, a role he was very unprepared for.  Three days after the funeral he wrote about the job he was about to embark on.  Looking back, he could now be considered unsuitable to be king.  He would have been taught how to spend money and the accounts he created have been preserved.  Maximilian tried to drill frugality into Ludwig.  However after he became King, frugality would die.

After he became King, he would invite Wagner to come to Bavaria and would support the composer.  Wagner was the first person to learn about Ludwig’s plans for Neuschwanstein.  The first drawings would have emerged from this period.  The castle initially was fairly simple before it became the fairy tale fantasy we know today.  Neuschwanstein was a fusion of different styles and a stark comparison to the simpler designs of his father's time.  It was a dream come true, built for a man who wanted to escape reality.  A historic treasure is revealed at this time, it would show the progress of the construction of Neuschwanstein.  The photos would show how the landscape looked before the castle was built.  These provide a tantalizing look into the past.  Using these photos historians are able to recreate

Ludwig would have recorded construction details as the castle was built, even the details that nobody cared about.  The workers may have expected to see the King on the construction site.  However, the king was a naturally shy man and rarely made public appearances.  Despite this, he kept an eye on construction like a hawk.  He let his politicians deal with the day-to-day duties of the king.  Ludwig was going to build his dream castle.  What will happen as a result of his obsession?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more about King Ludwig and Neuschwanstein Castle.

This was a nice little turnaround after the dud reviews of the past few days.  I like that there was an interview with one of Ludwig II’s relatives.  It was also neat to hear from a descendant who worked on the castle.  The descendant also worked as a tool guide for the castle.  The views of the castle were spectacular, particularly the views of the castle in the landscape.  It was a very fascinating look into the life of King Ludwig.  This would be a good documentary for a geography class and would be good for research purposes.