May 14: Bavaria's Fairytale Castles (or sir, please, can I have two minutes?)

Today the group traveled to the Bavarian Alps in order to experience and explore the castles of King Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, during the late 1800s. This bus ride journeyed through the beautiful scenery of the Alps and traditional villages before reaching our destination.










Schloss Linderhof, the first and only completed palace of the three constructed by Ludwig, was small in size but grand in stature. The goal of the castle and surrounding gardens was to replicate the grandeur of the French Monarchy during the reign of King Louis XIV, the Sun King.

Schloss Linderhof

Ludwig saw the imitation of this style as a manner to display himself as a divine ruler of Bavaria. Throughout the interior of Linderhof, Ludwig attempted to mimic the splendor, extravagance, and power of France's Sun King, Louis XIV.  Ludwig made use of gold-leaf, French porcelain, portraits of French nobility, and even went so far as to include a painting of Versailles in his throne room to relate his own rule to that of Louis XIV's. The trim of rooms was done with elegant carvings of hunters, gods, stags, rabbits, and numerous other symbols of Greek, French, and Bavarian cultures. The grounds outside the castle include elegant fountains, statues, gardens, and terraces which were modeled after the garden outside of Versailles. Behind the palace was a waterfall-like structure.

The Bavarian Lion in Linderhof's Garden

 Overall, the image Ludwig II attempted to create with his Linderhof palace was one that emphasized culture, aesthetic beauty, and the power of France. In the case of the latter, the rise of Prussia within the German-speaking lands suggest that Ludwig saw Bavaria as a place where culture would flourish, despite being eclipsed both politically and militarily by its northern competitor. Through the palace's golden statues, extravagant interior, and display of French hero-worship, Ludwig's Linderhof palace presents a Bavarian ruler seeking to invoke the legend and divinity of the Sun King's reign.

WJU Students, Alumni, and Employees at Linderhof

Schloss Hohenschwangau from the trail to Neuschwanstein

Following a short stop in Oberammergau (where the history faculty settled in for an Eis), our next stop was the Neuschwanstein castle. Located in Southwest Bavaria above the village of Hohenschwangau, its construction began in 1869. It was primarily funded by and in Ludwig II's name but oddly enough the king never saw its full completion since he died before its finish in 1892. Ludwig died under mysterious circumstances; after being deposed by the Bavarian state for nearly bankrupting the state by, among other things, building palaces, he drowned in Lake Starnberg while under the surveillance of Bavarian authorities. After a leisurely meal of wurst, schnitzel, chicken, or in one case, a surprisingly intact trout, we had two options to visit this castle: one could other take a bus to the top of the rather steep mountain or hike it. While many students decided to take the easy way out and ride to the top, a group of more hearty WJU students and faculty climbed to the top. 

Schloss Neuschwanstein

The castle was primarily built to pay homage to the famous German composer Richard Wagner. Many other influences, however, can be seen throughout the castle as in Linderhof,  such as Louis IV and many elements of Christianity. The physical makeup of the castle is quite extraordinary since it was built primarily by hand and its massive structure overlooks the valley high up in the mountains.

WJU Students and Faculty at Schloss Neuschwanstein

While Linderhof reflected the extravagance of Ludwig's French heroes, the interior of Neuschwanstein was much darker and looked much more like an extravagant hunting lodge than a royal palace. One exception to this general tone was a crown room based on Byzantine styles, replete with gold and faux gem stones.

It was on the ride back to Munich, however, that one of the trip's more memorable moments occurred. Our extremely gracious and knowledgeable tour guide was sharing some information with the group when all of the sudden, she turned off her microphone. She immediately looked at our very own Hunter Onderko (an admittedly talkative student) and pleadingly asked him "sir, can I please have two minutes?" Hunter obliged and, for the first time on the bus ride down and back, a relative calm descended on bus.

Even in Mid-Air, Hunter has Something to Say.

The Feldherrnhalle

After returning to Munich, the group walked down towards the Feldherrnhalle, a veritable Hall of Fame of Bavarian military heroes. It also became an extremely important symbolic area for the Nazi Party. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, the site witnessed ceremonies that celebrated those men who marched with Hitler during the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch and were killed in a clash with the police at the Feldherrnhalle.




We then turned into the Hofgarten and, finding a quiet Biergarten, settled in for an evening of food and drink.

The Hofgarten