Bridge Near Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle, Southern Bavarian, Germany is a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Fussen. The palace was commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and in honour of Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds.

The castle was intended as a home for the King, until he died in 1886. It was open to the public shortly after his death. Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer.