How much did Ludwig's Castles cost to build?

This question is on most people's minds, whether they visit the castles, or only view images of them. Below you will find a recreation of the Royal accounts from the secret Cabinet files.

Before looking through the amounts spent, there are a few things that we must keep in mind. Firstly, that Ludwig was a 19th century King, and not a late-20th century, average wage-earner with a family to support and a mortgage and credit cards to pay off. It was a different world to the one we live in today.

Secondly, Ludwig had no family. Therefore, there was no Queen or Princes and Princesses etc to support, and he did not maintain a vast Court as in other European monarchies of the time. In fact, except for his occasional "friends" who stayed with him, Ludwig's entire life for 15 or so years consisted of himself alone, and a handful of servants.

Lastly, we must remember how much money is spent by current heads of state in running their personal households and offices. Think of how much the U.S. President spends each year maintaining his army of bodyguards, his 747 aircraft, fleets of limos, his enormous household staff, etc etc etc. And of course the british Government pays Queen Elizabeth £19.6 million each year to maintain her castles and palaces, and £7.9 million to run her personal household. (These figures come from the official Royal web site - www.royal.gov.uk). Ludwig actually channelled this money into his buildings, rather than spending it on maintaining an enormous Court.

Expenditure each year on Ludwig's castles.

This information comes from "König Ludwig II und die Kunst" (King Ludwig II and the Arts), by Dr. Michael Petzet, published in Munich in 1968. This book is, unfortunately, long out of print. The left columns show the estimated amounts for each year, the right columns show the actual expenditure.

fl = Guilders, M = Marks. (Bavaria changed it's currency to Marks in 1876.)

* I have not included Pfennig (pennies) in these accounts.

An analysis of the accounts.

At first sight, these figures are rather frightening. Towards the end, Ludwig was spending far more than he should have been. In both 1885 and 1886, he was granted no money for Neuschwanstein, yet he spent 863,497 Marks on it in these years. Herrenchiemsee was granted a total of 4,000 Marks for 1885-86, yet it consumed 3,283,609 Marks in these two years. We can see how money had dried up by 1885, as the estimates drop suddenly to almost nothing. Yet Ludwig was spending money with as much abandon as he always had.

Interestingly, the total amount spent on the three Castles was roughly 31,221,458 Marks, which was around the same figure Bavaria paid to Prussia in war indemnity after the Seven Weeks War. This amount was paid without a murmur. Today we can only guess at the amount the Bavarian Government earns in admission charges from these buildings. With Neuschwanstein drawing almost 2 million visitors a year, with admission charges ranging from 7 DM to 10 DM, one can guess how many millions they are earning from this one castle alone.

From the accounts we can also see the years in which certain castles were added to, decorated, or neglected. For instance, in 1876 and 1877, Linderhof enjoyed a fury of building, with 2,794,632 Marks being spent on it. This amount coincides with the building of most of the pavilions in the grounds. (Venus Grotto, Hundings Hut, etc.) 1883 saw just over 4 million Marks spent on Herrenchiemsee - since it was in this year that most of the interior decoration was executed.

Like many things Ludwig left behind, his accounts are a "skeleton in his closet", but a way in which we can play detective and see what happened during his life.

Back to Ludwig's Castles