The story of this place
King Ludwig II of Bavaria began Neuschwanstein in 1869 as a private retreat and homage to Wagner's operas, its towers and murals dramatising Lohengrin and Tannhäuser. He poured his personal fortune and vast loans into the fantasy, retreating ever further from his ministers and his kingship. In June 1886 the government declared him insane and deposed him; three days later Ludwig and his psychiatrist were found drowned in Lake Starnberg in circumstances never explained. He had slept only 172 nights in the unfinished castle. Just seven weeks after his death, the state opened it to paying visitors to recoup its debts. It later inspired Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle and draws over a million visitors a year.