Ludwig's Byzantine Palace had a long history indeed. Beginning in 1869, the year he first started planning his castles, this building was destined for Linderhof. It was to be a monument to Parsifal, spread out over a vast area and consisting of a number of separate buildings connected by plazas and marble-paved squares.

In 1885, the Byzantine idea surfaced once again, this time on a monumental scale that must have made his finance minister weep. The building was to be enormous, a huge complex composed of domed basilica-like halls placed around a marble-paved square with a water-filled basin in the centre.

The different buildings in this view are - on the left, the tower over the gatehouse; in the foreground, below the tower, the Vestibule, or Entrance Hall. To the right, the Church, based on Byzantine churches in Greece. On the far right, the massive Throne Hall, based on Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. In the background, looming through the mist, is the building that would house the King's rooms, with the Bedroom taking up the upper floor with two domes forming it's ceiling. As in Ludwig's other Castles, the Bedroom was be the grandest room in the place.

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