Transcription
Letter #6 Augsburg
June 27, 1954
Dear Family:
Last night climaxed the Southern Bavarian phase of our trip. During our stay in Southern Bavaria we have visited all the castles that figured in the life of Ludwig II, and here is a character worthy of note. He was mad as a hatter but, fortunately for posterity, his madness was expressed in artistic genius. He was born at Nymphenburg (the huge palace outside Munich that Dad referred to visiting). It seems French in its formality and symmetry of layout. It was at Hohenschwangau, however, that Ludwig spent his childhood. His father had rebuilt this castle on the ruins of an old fortress and decorated it with paintings of old German legends and sagas and in these romantic surroundings Ludwig II grew up. He ascended the throne in 1864 at the age of 19 and was so steeped in the dream world he had made for himself during his childhood that he was unable to face the realities of a period fast approaching the machine age. He therefore set out on a castle building binge and it soon became evident that this lad was nutty as a fruitcake. These fabulous castles were for himself alone, fairytale surroundings where he could lead a life completely removed from reality.
Linderhof Castle is the smallest and therefore the only one completed. It is modelled after one of the smaller buildings in the park of Versailles. Ludwig II idolized Louis XIV of France and in the castle, Louis XIV figured prominently in many of the paintings. It is a beautiful little castle (only 8 rooms on the main floor) and everything is very elaborately decorated and covered with 22 carat gold leaf. When he started building Neuschwanstein Castle he had a complete change of mind. This was to be the castle to take him back to the days of chivalry and knighthood. It was also to be a monument to Wagner, who was a very close friend of the king’s. All the paintings deal with the Wagnerian legends, and Lohengrin, the swan knight, is seen most often. The swan motif is repeated in various patterns and designs but nowhere in the castle is anything repeated. That place is decorated to the last inch and no two designs are alike. In this castle Ludwig could escape from the world and live in a bygone age. He even had a suit of armor made for him, in which he would clank about the castle of an afternoon. It was in this castle that the troops of his uncle, the prince regent, came to place him under arrest.
On Saturday, we visited the last of his castles, Herrenchiemsee. This is a king-sized Linderhof. It was modelled after Versailles itself and is fabulously decorated, varied colored marbles, gold leaf, Dresden china chandeliers and fireplaces, etc. A very charming woman showed just the three of us through the castle after it had been closed. Then after supper we returned to the castle for the experience of a lifetime. The entire front section of the castle had been illuminated by candlelight. We made our way up the grand staircase and through many candle-lit rooms to the Hall of Mirrors which stretches the entire length of the castle, where 2,200 candles flickered in crystal chandeliers and were reflected back in the two-story high mirrors along the wall. In this setting, a string quartet played a program of Motzart [sic] and Hayden. I couldn’t possibly describe how effective it was, but it was an experience we’ll never forget.
This candlelight concert at Herrenchiemsee was certainly the climax to our visits to the five castles that hold the life story of the “Mad King Ludwig”.
Love,
AnneTranscriber
Cindi RokeLanguage
English