Ludwig II. came from the art-loving Wittelsbach family, which had ruled Bavaria for centuries. The King after the frustrations of his first years at the throne, turned away in disgust from the residence town in Munich and took refuge in his beloved mountains.

Therefore the young King contemplated constructing a new dwelling in an environment, that was familiar to him since the days of his childhood: his father, Maximilian II had purchased the ruinded castle of Schwanstein in 1832, formerly the ancestral seat of the Knights of Schwangau.

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