76-631: Bara Kaman is the unfinished mausoleum of Ali Adil Shah II in Bijapur , Karnataka in India . Ali Adil Shah of the Adil Shahi dynasty wanted to build a mausoleum of unmatched architectural quality. It was planned that twelve arches would be placed vertically as well as horizontally surrounding the tomb of Ali Adil Shah. However, for unknown reasons the work on the structure was left incomplete: only two arches were raised vertically. Rumour has it that
152-466: A blueprint or whiteprint and never be realised, or be abandoned during construction. One of the best-known perennially incomplete buildings is Antoni Gaudí 's basilica Sagrada Família in Barcelona . It has been under construction since 1882 and planned to be complete by 2026, Gaudí's death centenary. There are numerous unfinished buildings that remain partially constructed in countries around
228-545: A Moorish kiosk, and an exotic tent. The roof was a technically advanced metal and glass construction. The winter garden was closed in June 1886, partly dismantled the following year, and demolished in 1897. In 1883, Ludwig planned the construction of a new castle on Falkenstein (Falcon Rock) near Pfronten in the Allgäu , a place he knew well: a diary entry for 16 October 1867 reads "Falkenstein wild, romantic". The first design
304-522: A Venus grotto lit by electricity, where Ludwig was rowed in a boat shaped like a shell. After seeing the Bayreuth performances, Ludwig built Hundinghütte (Hunding's Hut, based on the stage set of the first act of Wagner's Die Walküre ) in the forest near Linderhof, complete with an artificial tree and a sword embedded in it; in Die Walküre , Siegmund pulls the sword from the tree. Hunding's Hut
380-513: A breathtaking mountaintop site. The walls of Neuschwanstein are decorated with frescoes depicting scenes from the legends used in Richard Wagner's operas, including Tannhäuser , Tristan und Isolde , Lohengrin , Parsifal , and the somewhat less than mystic Die Meistersinger . In 1878, construction was completed on Ludwig's Linderhof Palace, an ornate palace in neo-French Rococo style, with handsome formal gardens. The grounds contained
456-419: A cause to depose Ludwig by constitutional means, the rebelling ministers decided on the rationale that he was mentally ill and unable to rule. They asked Ludwig's uncle, Prince Luitpold , to step into the royal vacancy once Ludwig was deposed. Luitpold agreed on condition the conspirators produced reliable proof that the king was in fact helplessly insane. Between January and March 1886, the conspirators assembled
532-413: A decision that has since been disputed. Today, his architectural and artistic legacy includes many of Bavaria's most important tourist attractions. Born at Nymphenburg Palace , which is located in what is today part of central Munich , he was the elder son of Maximilian II of Bavaria and Marie of Prussia , Crown Prince and Princess of Bavaria, who became King and Queen in 1848 after the abdication of
608-420: A discreet distance is not clear. The two men were last seen at about 6:30 pm; they were due back at 8 pm but never returned. After searches were made for more than two hours by the entire castle staff in a gale with heavy rain, at 10:30 pm that night, the bodies of both Ludwig and Gudden were found, head and shoulders above the shallow water near the shore. Ludwig's watch had stopped at 6:54. Gendarmes patrolling
684-483: A few months after his accession, was to summon the composer Richard Wagner to his court. Also in 1864, he laid the foundation stone of a new Court Theatre, now the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz ( Gärtnerplatz -Theater). Ludwig was notably eccentric in ways that made serving as Bavaria's head of state problematic. He disliked large public functions and avoided formal social events whenever possible, preferring
760-486: A fifth tower constructed for it called Isolde and used the castle frequently as his summer residence. When Maria Alexandrovna , Empress of Russia , visited Berg in 1868, he had the castle magnificently decorated for the duration of her stay there; the castle otherwise, by his standards, was modestly furnished. Although Ludwig had paid for his pet projects out of his own funds and not the state coffers, that did not necessarily spare Bavaria from financial fallout. By 1885, he
836-425: A life of seclusion that he pursued with various creative projects. He last inspected a military parade on 22 August 1875 and last gave a court banquet on 10 February 1876. His mother had foreseen difficulties for Ludwig when she recorded her concern for her extremely introverted and creative son who spent much time day-dreaming. These idiosyncrasies, combined with the fact that Ludwig avoided Munich and participating in
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#1732772755694912-627: A partial replica of the Palace of Versailles, sited on the Herreninsel in the Chiemsee . It was built as Ludwig's tribute to Louis XIV of France, the magnificent "Sun King". Only the central portion of the palace was built; all construction halted on Ludwig's death. What exists of Herrenchiemsee comprises 8,366 square metres (90,050 sq ft), a "copy in miniature" compared with Versailles' 551,112 ft . The following year, Ludwig finished
988-417: A police detachment of 36 men who sealed off all entrances to the castle. Eventually, Ludwig decided he would try to escape, but he was too late. In the early hours of 12 June, a second commission arrived. Ludwig was seized just after midnight and at 4 am was taken to a waiting carriage. He asked Gudden, "How can you declare me insane? After all, you have never seen or examined me before", only to be told that "it
1064-572: A relationship with his aide de camp , Prince Paul , a member of the wealthy Bavarian Thurn und Taxis family. The two young men rode together, read poetry aloud, and staged scenes from the Romantic operas of Richard Wagner . The friendship ended when Paul became engaged to a commoner in 1868. During his youth, Ludwig also initiated a lifelong friendship with his cousin, Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria , later Empress of Austria . Crown Prince Ludwig
1140-672: A succession of close friendships with men, including his aide-de-camp the Bavarian prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis , chief equerry and master of the horse Richard Hornig, the Hungarian theater actor Josef Kainz , and courtier Alfons Weber. Letters from Ludwig reveal that the quartermaster of the royal stables, Karl Hesselschwerdt, acted as his male procurer . After 1871, Ludwig largely withdrew from politics and devoted himself to his personal creative projects, most famously his castles , for which he personally approved every detail of
1216-474: A total of 632 years. Buildings that were never completed and remain in that state include: In other cases, construction works proceeds extremely slowly, so one can also say form incomplete structures. Examples are: There are also roads, railway lines and channels which remained unfinished. Many projects do not get to the construction phase, halted during or after planning. Ludwig II of Bavaria commissioned several designs for Castle Falkenstein , with
1292-678: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Karnataka -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Unfinished building An unfinished building is a building (or other architectural structure, as a bridge, a road or a tower) where construction work was abandoned or on hold at some stage or only exists as a design. It may also refer to buildings that are currently being built, particularly those that have been delayed or at which construction work progresses extremely slowly. Many construction or engineering projects have remained unfinished at various stages of development. The work may be finished as
1368-604: Is at times called "the Mad King" or Mad King Ludwig . Ludwig ascended to the throne in 1864 at the age of 18 but increasingly withdrew from day-to-day affairs of state in favour of extravagant artistic and architectural projects. He commissioned the construction of lavish palaces: Neuschwanstein Castle , Linderhof Palace , and Herrenchiemsee . He was also a devoted patron of the composer Richard Wagner . Ludwig spent all his own private royal revenues (although not state funds as
1444-402: Is commonly thought) on these projects, borrowed extensively, and defied all attempts by his ministers to restrain him. This extravagance was used against him to declare him insane, an accusation that has since come under scrutiny. Ludwig was taken into custody and effectively deposed on 12 June 1886, and he and his doctor were found dead on the following day. His death was ruled to be a suicide,
1520-439: Is declared incapable of ruling, which incapacity will be not only for a year's duration, but for the length of Your Majesty's life." The men had never met the king, except for Gudden, only once, 12 years earlier, and none had ever examined him. Questions about the lack of medical diagnosis make the legality of the deposition controversial. Adding to the controversy are the mysterious circumstances under which King Ludwig died. Today,
1596-930: The Ärztliches Gutachten (Medical Report), on Ludwig's fitness to rule. Most of the details in the report were compiled by Count Maximilian von Holnstein , who was disillusioned with Ludwig and actively sought his downfall. Holnstein used bribery and his high rank to extract a long list of complaints, accounts, and gossip about Ludwig from among the king's servants. The litany of supposed bizarre behavior included his pathological shyness, his avoidance of state business, his complex and expensive flights of fancy, dining outdoors in cold weather and wearing heavy overcoats in summer, sloppy and childish table manners, dispatching servants on lengthy and expensive voyages to research architectural details in foreign lands, and violent threats of abuse to his servants. The degree to which these accusations were accurate may never be known. The conspirators approached Chancellor Otto von Bismarck , who doubted
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#17327727556941672-686: The Bavarian Army , which would come under Prussian command only in times of war. In December 1870, Bismarck used financial concessions to induce Ludwig, with the support of the king's equerry , Maximilian Count von Holnstein , to write the Kaiserbrief , a letter endorsing the creation of the German Empire with King Wilhelm I of Prussia as Emperor. Nevertheless, Ludwig regretted Bavaria's loss of independence and refused to attend Wilhelm's 18 January proclamation as German Emperor in
1748-798: The Bavarian dialect ). Unification with Prussia took center stage from 1866. In the Austro-Prussian War , which began in August, Ludwig's government supported the Austrian Empire against Prussia. Austria and Bavaria were defeated, and the Kingdom of Bavaria was forced to sign a mutual defence treaty with Prussia. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, Bavaria was required to fight alongside Prussia. After
1824-734: The Château de Pierrefonds and the Palace of Versailles in France, as well as the Wartburg near Eisenach in Thuringia , which largely influenced the style of his construction. In his letters, Ludwig marvelled at how the French had magnificently built up and glorified their culture (e.g., architecture, art, and music) and how miserably lacking Bavaria was in comparison. His dream became to accomplish
1900-596: The Palace of Versailles . Ludwig's brother Prince Otto and his uncle Luitpold went instead. In the Constitution of the German Empire , Bavaria was able to secure for itself extensive rights, in particular regarding military sovereignty. Not only did the Royal Bavarian Army retain, like the kingdoms of Saxony and Württemberg , its own troops, war ministry, and military justice system but
1976-673: The Tribschen residence for Wagner in Switzerland. Wagner completed Die Meistersinger there; it was premiered in Munich in 1868. When Wagner returned to his " Ring Cycle ", Ludwig demanded "special previews" of the first two works ( Das Rheingold and Die Walküre ) at Munich in 1869 and 1870. Wagner was now planning his great personal opera house – the Bayreuth Festspielhaus . Ludwig initially refused to support
2052-616: The 1880s. Work was delayed by the Spanish Civil War , during which the original models and parts of the building itself were destroyed. Today, even with portions of the basilica incomplete, it is still the most popular tourist destination in Barcelona with 1.5 million visitors every year. Gaudí spent 40 years of his life overseeing the project and is buried in the crypt. Germany's Cologne Cathedral took even longer to complete; construction started in 1248 and finished in 1880,
2128-451: The King had 209 Separatvorstellungen (private performances) given for himself alone or with a guest, in the two court theatres, comprising 44 operas (28 performances of Wagner's operas including eight of Parsifal ), 11 ballets, and 154 plays (the principal theme being Bourbon France) at a cost of 97,300 marks. This was not due so much to misanthropy but rather as the King complained to
2204-677: The Prussian victory over the Second French Empire , Chancellor Otto von Bismarck moved to complete the unification of Germany . In November 1870, Bavaria joined the North German Confederation , thus losing its status as an independent kingdom; however, the Bavarian delegation under Minister President , Count Otto von Bray-Steinburg , secured privilleged status for Bavaria within the empire ( Reservatrechte ). Bavaria retained its own diplomatic corps and
2280-528: The Venus Grotto); and Schloß Herrenchiemsee (from 1873) 16,579,674 marks. In order to give an equivalent for the era, the British pound sterling , being the monetary hegemon of the time, had a fixed exchange rate (based on the gold standard ) at £1 = 20.43 Goldmarks . In 1868, Ludwig commissioned the first drawings for his buildings, starting with Neuschwanstein Castle and Herrenchiemsee ; work on
2356-408: The architecture, decoration, and furnishing. Ludwig was intensely interested in the operas of Richard Wagner . This interest began when Ludwig first saw Lohengrin at the impressionable age of 15, followed by Tannhäuser ten months later. Wagner's operas appealed to the king's fantasy-filled imagination. Wagner had a notorious reputation as a political radical and philanderer who was constantly on
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2432-423: The castle gate at gunpoint. In an infamous sideshow, the commissioners were attacked by the 47-year-old baroness Spera von Truchseß , out of loyalty to the king, who flailed at the men with her umbrella and then rushed to the king's apartments to identify the conspirators. Ludwig then had the commissioners arrested, but after holding them captive for several hours, released them. Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria
2508-413: The claim of hereditary insanity. At 4 am on 10 June 1886, a government commission including Holnstein and Gudden arrived at Neuschwanstein to deliver the document of deposition to King Ludwig formally and to place him in custody. Tipped off an hour or two earlier by a faithful servant, his coachman Fritz Osterholzer, Ludwig ordered the local police to protect him, and the commissioners were turned back from
2584-413: The claim of paranoia is not considered correct; Ludwig's behavior is rather interpreted as a schizotypal personality disorder , and he may also have suffered from Pick's disease during his last years, an assumption supported by a frontotemporal lobar degeneration mentioned in the autopsy report. Ludwig's only younger brother and successor, Otto, was considered insane, providing a convenient basis for
2660-529: The construction of the mausoleum was stopped because once completed its shadow would touch the Gol Gombaz . Nowadays the remains of the twelve horizontally placed arches can still be seen. The site is managed by the Archaeological Survey of India . The Bara Kaman was built in 1672AD, by Ali Adil Shah II, and was supposed to be the burial mausoleum for the king and his wives. Bara Kaman has
2736-550: The construction of the royal apartment in the Residenz Palace in Munich, to which he had added an opulent conservatory or winter garden on the palace roof. It was started in 1867 as quite a small structure, but after extensions in 1868 and 1871, the dimensions reached 69.5 x 17.2 x 9.5 m. It featured an ornamental lake complete with skiff, a painted panorama of the Himalayas as a backdrop, an Indian fisher-hut of bamboo,
2812-711: The deposed and notorious King Ludwig I. Ludwig's childhood years did have happy moments. He lived for much of the time at Hohenschwangau Castle , a fantasy castle his father had built near the Alpsee (Alp Lake) near Füssen . It was decorated in the Gothic Revival style with many frescoes depicting heroic German sagas, most notably images of Lohengrin , the Knight of the Swans. The family also visited Lake Starnberg (then called Lake Würm). As an adolescent, Ludwig began
2888-664: The design process to be more successful and efficient. Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886), also called the Swan King or the Fairy Tale King ( der Märchenkönig ), was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the Rhine , Duke of Bavaria , Duke of Franconia , and Duke in Swabia . Outside Germany, he
2964-529: The former's father, Ludwig I , during the German revolution of 1848–1849 . His parents intended to name him Otto, but his grandfather insisted that his grandson be named after him, since their common birthday, 25 August, is the feast day of Saint Louis IX of France , patron saint of Bavaria (with Ludwig being the German form of Louis ). Like many young heirs in an age when kings governed most of Europe, Ludwig
3040-401: The fourth plan being vastly different from that of the first. The first two designs were turned down, one because of costs and one because the design displeased Ludwig, and the third designer withdrew from the project. The fourth and final plan was completed and some infrastructure was prepared for the site but Ludwig died before construction work began. The Palace of Whitehall , at the time
3116-461: The government there at all costs, caused considerable tension with the king's government ministers but did not cost him popularity among the citizens of Bavaria. The king enjoyed traveling in the Bavarian countryside and chatting with farmers and labourers he met along the way. He also delighted in rewarding those who were hospitable to him during his travels with lavish gifts. He is still remembered in Bavaria as Unser Kini ("Our Cherished King" in
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3192-455: The government under Minister-President Johann von Lutz publicly proclaimed Luitpold as Prince Regent. Ludwig's friends and allies urged him to flee, or to show himself in Munich, and thus regain the support of the people. Ludwig hesitated, instead issuing a statement, allegedly drafted by his aide-de-camp, Count Alfred Dürckheim , which was published by a Bamberg newspaper on 11 June: "The Prince Luitpold intends, against my will, to ascend to
3268-518: The grandiose project. When Wagner exhausted all other sources, he appealed to Ludwig, who loaned him 100,000 thalers to complete the work. Ludwig also paid for the Wahnfried villa for Wagner and his family to reside in, constructed 1872–74. In 1876, Ludwig attended the dress rehearsal and third public performance of the complete Ring Cycle at the Festspielhaus. Ludwig's interest in theatre
3344-459: The head and neck and signs of strangulation, leading to the suspicion that he was strangled, although no other evidence was found to support this. Another theory suggests that Ludwig died of natural causes, such as a heart attack or stroke , brought on by the cool water (12 °C) of the lake during an escape attempt. Speculation exists that Ludwig was murdered by his enemies while attempting to escape from Berg. One account suggests that Ludwig
3420-433: The lake, where loyalists were waiting to help him escape. Lidl wrote, "As the king stepped up to his boat and put one foot in it, a shot rang out from the bank, apparently killing him on the spot, for the king fell across the bow of the boat." The autopsy report indicates that no scars or wounds were found on the body of the dead king. Many years later, Countess Josephine von Wrbna-Kaunitz would show her afternoon tea guests
3496-571: The largest palace in Europe , was mostly destroyed by a fire in 1698. Sir Christopher Wren , most famous for his role in rebuilding several churches after the Great Fire of London in 1666, sketched a proposed replacement for part of the palace but financial constraints prevented construction. Even without being constructed, many architectural designs and ideas have had a lasting influence. The Russian constructivism movement started in 1914 and
3572-420: The latter did not commence until 1878. Neuschwanstein Castle (New Swanstone Castle) is a dramatic Romanesque fortress with soaring fairy-tale towers. It is situated on an Alpine crag above Ludwig's childhood home, Hohenschwangau Castle . Ludwig reputedly had seen the location and conceived of building a castle there while still a boy. In 1869, Ludwig oversaw the laying of the cornerstone for Neuschwanstein on
3648-651: The mountain road. Sold in 1891 and taken to Oberammergau , it was purchased by the government in 1980 and re-erected in the park at Linderhof after extensive restoration. Inside the palace, iconography reflected Ludwig's fascination with France's absolutist government of the Ancien Régime . Ludwig saw himself as the "Moon King", a Romantic shadow of the earlier "Sun King", Louis XIV of France . From Linderhof, Ludwig enjoyed moonlit sleigh rides in an elaborate 18th-century sleigh, complete with footmen in 18th-century livery . In 1878, construction began on Herrenchiemsee,
3724-517: The newspaper and handbills. Anton Sailer's pictorial biography of Ludwig contains a photograph of this rare document. The authenticity of the Royal Proclamation is doubted, as it is dated 9 June, before the commission arrived, it uses I instead of the royal We , and orthographic errors are included. As Ludwig dithered, his support waned. Peasants who rallied to his cause were dispersed, and the police who guarded his castle were replaced by
3800-400: The park had neither seen nor heard anything unusual. Ludwig's death was officially ruled a suicide by drowning; the official autopsy report indicated that no water was found in his lungs. Ludwig was a very strong swimmer in his youth, the water was approximately waist deep where his body was found, and he had not expressed suicidal feelings during the crisis. Gudden's body showed blows to
3876-662: The prestigious Munich Royal Court Theatre, which went on to become the Bavarian State Opera . A year after meeting the King, Wagner presented his latest work, Tristan und Isolde , in Munich to great acclaim. The composer's perceived extravagant and scandalous behaviour in the capital was unsettling for the conservative people of Bavaria, and the King was forced to ask Wagner to leave the city six months later, in December 1865. Ludwig considered abdicating to follow Wagner, but Wagner persuaded him to stay. Ludwig provided
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#17327727556943952-546: The reception. Ludwig never married nor had any known mistresses. His diary, private letters, and other documents reveal his strong homosexual desires, which he struggled to suppress to remain true to the teachings of the Catholic Church . Homosexuality had not been punishable in Bavaria since 1813, but the unification of Germany under Prussian hegemony in 1871 instated Paragraph 175 , which criminalized homosexual acts between males. Throughout his reign, Ludwig had
4028-413: The regency of my land, and my erstwhile ministry has, through false allegations regarding the state of my health, deceived my beloved people, and is preparing to commit acts of high treason. ... I call upon every loyal Bavarian to rally around my loyal supporters to thwart the planned treason against the King and the fatherland." The government succeeded in suppressing the statement by seizing most copies of
4104-490: The report was finalized and signed by a panel of four psychiatrists: Bernhard von Gudden , chief of the Munich Asylum; Hubert von Grashey (who was Gudden's son-in-law); and their colleagues, Friedrich Wilhelm Hagen and Max Hubrich. The report declared in its final sentences that the king suffered from paranoia and concluded, "Suffering from such a disorder, freedom of action can no longer be allowed and Your Majesty
4180-524: The report's veracity, calling it "rakings from the King's wastepaper-basket and cupboards". Bismarck commented after reading the report that "the Ministers wish to sacrifice the King, otherwise they have no chance of saving themselves". He suggested that the matter be brought before the Bavarian Diet and discussed there but did not stop the ministers from carrying out their plan. In early June,
4256-570: The run from creditors. On 4 May 1864, the 51-year-old Wagner was given an unprecedented 1¾ hour audience with Ludwig in the Munich Residenz . Later, the composer wrote of his first meeting with Ludwig, "Alas, he is so handsome and wise, soulful and lovely, that I fear that his life must melt away in this vulgar world like a fleeting dream of the gods." Ludwig was likely the savior of Wagner's career; without Ludwig, Wagner's later operas are unlikely to have been composed, much less premiered at
4332-437: The same for Bavaria. These projects provided employment for many hundreds of local labourers and artisans and brought a considerable flow of money to the relatively poor regions where his castles were built. Figures for the total costs between 1869 and 1886 for the building and equipping of each castle were published in 1968: Schloß Neuschwanstein 6,180,047 marks; Schloß Linderhof 8,460,937 marks (a large portion being expended on
4408-540: The theatre actor-manager Ernst Possart, "I can get no sense of illusion in the theatre so long as people keep staring at me, and follow my every expression through their opera-glasses. I want to look myself, not to be a spectacle for the masses." Ludwig used his personal fortune, which was supplemented annually from 1873 by 270,000 marks from the Welfenfonds , to fund the construction of a series of elaborate castles. In 1867, he visited Eugène Viollet-le-Duc 's work at
4484-531: The tombs of Ali Adil Shah II, his wife Chand Bibi, his mistresses and his daughters. The architect of Bara Kaman was Malik Sandal. The structure has raised walls in concentric arches. After the arches were erected, the inner arches were toppled, leaving only the outermost arch. No cement was used, instead iron rings were used to hold the stones together. 16°49′47″N 75°43′5″E / 16.82972°N 75.71806°E / 16.82972; 75.71806 This article about an Indian building or structure
4560-555: The treatment of his royal patient. Following dinner, at around 6 pm, Ludwig asked Gudden to accompany him on a further walk, this time through the Schloß Berg parkland along the shore of Lake Starnberg. Gudden agreed; the walk may even have been his suggestion, and he told the aides not to join them. His words were ambiguous ( Es darf kein Pfleger mitgehen , "No attendant may walk with [us]"). Whether they were meant to follow at
4636-429: The uniform cut, equipment, and training was standardised to the Prussian model. When field-grey uniforms were introduced, only the cockade and a blue-and-white lozenge edging to the collar distinguished Bavarian units. The greatest stress of Ludwig's early reign was the pressure to produce an heir, and this issue came to the forefront in 1867. Ludwig became engaged to Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria , his cousin and
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#17327727556944712-580: The wedding date and finally cancelled the engagement in October. After the engagement was broken off, Ludwig wrote to his former fiancée, "My beloved Elsa! Your cruel father has torn us apart. Eternally yours, Heinrich." The names Elsa and Heinrich came from characters in Wagner's opera Lohengrin . Sophie later married Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon , grandson of French King Louis Philippe I , at Possenhofen Castle at which Ludwig II unexpectedly attended
4788-473: The world, some of which can be used in their incomplete state but with others remaining as a mere shell. Some projects are intentionally left with an unfinished appearance, particularly the follies of the late 16th to 18th century. Some buildings are in a cycle of near-perpetual construction, with work lasting for decades or even centuries. Antoni Gaudí 's Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain , has been under construction for around 140 years, having started in
4864-407: The youngest sister of his dear friend, Empress Elisabeth of Austria . The engagement was announced on 22 January 1867. They shared a deep interest in the works of Richard Wagner; a few days prior to their engagement announcement, Ludwig had written to Sophie, "The main substance of our relationship has always been … Richard Wagner's remarkable and deeply moving destiny." Ludwig repeatedly postponed
4940-463: Was 14 million marks in debt and had borrowed heavily from his family. Rather than economizing, as his financial ministers advised him, he planned further opulent designs without pause. He demanded that loans be sought from all of Europe's royalty and remained aloof from matters of state. Feeling harassed and irritated by his ministers, he considered dismissing the entire cabinet and replacing them with fresh faces. The cabinet decided to act first. Seeking
5016-700: Was a sketch by Christian Jank in 1883 "very much like the Townhall of Liège ". Subsequent designs showed a modest villa with a square tower, along with a small Gothic castle. By 1885, a road and water supply had been provided at Falkenstein, but the old ruins remained untouched. Ludwig proposed a Byzantine palace in the Graswangtal, and a Chinese summer palace by the Plansee in Tyrol . These projects never got beyond initial plans. For Berg Castle , Ludwig had
5092-443: Was by no means confined to Wagner. In 1867, he appointed Karl von Perfall as director of his new court theatre. Ludwig wished to introduce Munich theatre-goers to the best of European drama. Perfall, under Ludwig's supervision, introduced them to Shakespeare , Calderón , Mozart , Gluck , Ibsen , Weber , and many others. He also raised the standard of interpretation of Schiller , Molière , and Corneille . Between 1872 and 1885,
5168-399: Was continually reminded of his royal status. King Maximilian II wanted to instruct both of his sons in the burdens of royal duty from an early age. Ludwig was both extremely indulged and severely controlled by his tutors and subjected to a strict regimen of study and exercise. Some point to the stresses of growing up in a royal family as cause for much of his odd behaviour as an adult. Ludwig
5244-466: Was destroyed in 1945, but a replica was constructed at Linderhof in 1990. In 1877, Ludwig had Einsiedlei des Gurnemanz (a small hermitage, as seen in the third act of Parsifal ) erected near Hunding's Hut, with a meadow of spring flowers; a replica made in 2000 can now be seen in the park at Linderhof. Nearby, a Moroccan House, purchased at the Paris World Fair in 1878, was erected alongside
5320-594: Was excluded from the empire-wide regimental renumbering of the army regiments and would only come under imperial control in times of war. Bavaria also kept its light-blue infantry uniforms, the Raupenhelm (until 1886), the light cavalry, and some other peculiarities. The officers and men of the Bavarian Army continued to swear their oaths to the King of Bavaria and not the German Emperor. Nevertheless,
5396-399: Was in his 19th year when his father died after a three-day illness, and he ascended the Bavarian throne . Although he was not prepared for high office, his youth and brooding good looks made him popular in Bavaria and elsewhere. He continued the state policies of his father and retained his ministers. His real interests were in art, music, and architecture. One of the first acts of his reign,
5472-400: Was not close to either of his parents. King Maximilian's advisers had suggested that on his daily walks he might like, at times, to be accompanied by his future successor. The King replied, "But what am I to say to him? After all, my son takes no interest in what other people tell him." Later, Ludwig would refer to his mother as "my predecessor's consort". He was far closer to his grandfather,
5548-538: Was shot. His personal fisherman, Jakob Lidl (1864–1933), stated, "Three years after the king's death I was made to swear an oath that I would never say certain things – not to my wife, not on my deathbed, and not to any priest … The state has undertaken to look after my family if anything should happen to me in either peacetime or war." Lidl kept his oath, at least orally, but left behind notes that were found after his death. According to Lidl, he had hidden behind bushes with his boat, waiting to meet Ludwig, to row him out into
5624-785: Was taught in the Bauhaus and other architecture schools, leading to numerous architects integrating it into their style. Computer technology has allowed for 3D representations of projects to be shown before they are built. In some cases the construction is never started and the computer model is the nearest that anyone will ever get to seeing the finished piece. For example, in 1999 Kent Larson's exhibition " Unbuilt Ruins: Digital Interpretations of Eight Projects by Louis I. Kahn " showed computer images of designs completed by noted architect Louis Kahn but never built. Computer simulations can also be used to create prototypes of projects and test them before they are actually built; this has allowed
5700-404: Was the only member of the royal family who always remained on friendly terms with his cousin (with the exception of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria), so Ludwig II wrote him a telegram; the latter immediately intended to follow this call but was prevented from leaving his home at Nymphenburg Palace by his uncle Luitpold, who was about to take over government as the ruling Prince Regent. That same day,
5776-453: Was unnecessary; the documentary evidence [the servants' reports] is very copious and completely substantiated. It is overwhelming." Ludwig was transported to Berg Castle on the shores of Lake Starnberg , south of Munich. On the afternoon of the next day, 13 June 1886, Gudden accompanied Ludwig on a stroll in the grounds of Berg Castle. They were escorted by two attendants. On their return, Gudden expressed optimism to other doctors concerning
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