Neuschwanstein Castle by Maurice Hoogeboom

Neuschwanstein in Bavaria is a castle in the village of Hohenschwangau in the municipality of Schwangau near Füssen in the Allgäu region, built in the second half of the 19th century by order of (the later declared insane) King Ludwig or Louis II of Bavaria. It is Louis II's most famous structure and, with some's 1.3 million visitors a year, a popular attraction (some's 10,000 people a day in the holiday months of July and August). Construction was started by Ludwig in 1869 and his intention was to erect a medieval knights castle. The castle was designed by theatre architect and set designer Christian Jank, and Eduard Riedel and Georg von Dollmann were responsible for its execution. Work on the castle was immediately halted on Louis' death in 1886.

The castle was originally called the Neue Burg Hohenschwangau; it received its current name in 1886 after Louis' death,[1] the first name going back to the castle of the Lords of Schwangau that was located on the same site. The medieval Schwanstein castle was located on the site of today's castle Hohenschwangau.

Ironically, the castle, built for a single occupant, was opened to visitors six weeks after the death of Louis II, and has since become a top European attraction. Tourists can go up on foot or (like the king) be taken up by carriage. Walt Disney visited Neuschwanstein before construction of his first theme park began and it was the model for Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland in California.

Among the mountains, the famous Marienbrücke was built a little higher up by King Maximilian II, Louis' father, around 1850. From this structure, one has a nice view of the castle.