A Royal Hunting Lodge
When Ludwig II ascended the throne of Bavaria he took as his model Louis XIV, the "Sun King" of France. He believed in an absolute monarchy and in the divine right of kings. Unfortunately it was 1864, and nobody else agreed with him. He provided economic stimulus to the building trades in Bavaria by building castles. His best known is Neuschwanstein, the fantasy castle that inspired Disneyland. His largest was Herrenchiemsee where he tried to replicate Versailles. Linderhof is the one he actually completed and used.
His father, Maximilian, had a hunting lodge here and Ludwig moved it, expanded it, and covered it with tons of marble. The formal gardens, fountains and outbuildings made it a place where the king could escape from his royal duties and live his fantasy life.
The Castle
Note: In order to promote the sale of postcards, photography was not permitted inside the castle. The five interior pictures below are from Wikimedia Commons under a GNU Free Documentation License. They are larger than my pictures and open in a separate window.
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.jpg) The kings bedroom, the largest room in the castle. |
 Two peacocks were placed in the entrance when Ludwig was in residence. |
.jpg) Ceiling painting |
 Painting of Louis XIV |
 Meissen chandelier. |
 An old picture of the "tapestries" painted on canvas. |
The Grounds
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| A Moroccan house was built for the 1873 Vienna
exposition. Ludwig bought it, moved it and redecorated it the way he thought it ought to look. |
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