11/16/2023 0 Comments Cinderella castle![]() One of the designers, Christian Jank, drew inspiration for the castle from his time as a scenic painter. King Ludwig had a personal hand in the design, which can be described as a theatrical setting. The interior of the castle is a monument to the courtly love found in fairy tales, featuring lofted ceilings dripping with chandeliers, colorful walls depicting tapestries of dragons and damsels in distress, and rich furnishings making the castle a work of art. Decorations like these would not have been practical in an older castle, but provided inspiration for a fantasy castle like Cinderella’s which was more suited for a “happily ever after” than holding a defensive position. The exterior is peppered with windows, turrets, and decorative chimneys, and the courtyard even boasts several frescoes. Like the older, more practical castles, Neuschwanstein does have a prominent rectangular tower, but it also boasts several cylindrical towers that are also featured on Cinderella’s Castle. He wrote to Richard Wagner, a man he admired, saying, “It is my intention to rebuild the old castle…in the authentic style of the old German knights’ castles.” He went on to add that “the location is one of the most beautiful to be found, holy and approachable” and equated the “lofty heights” of the new castle with that of Heaven. Situated on top of a hill, Neuschwanstein was not positioned for defensive purposes but because King Ludwig liked the view. The castle was built on the ruins of Hohenschwangau Castle and overlooked two lakes and the village. The king had lost his powers as a sovereign ruler after losing a war with Prussia, and supposedly wanted to design castles and palaces to make a kingdom where he could reign supreme-an idea so romantic Disney himself might have written it. It was commissioned by King Ludwig II in the mid-1800s. It is located near the village of Hohenschwangau in southwest Bavaria, Germany. Neuschwanstein Castle, though, was built in a style called “castle romanticism”, or “Romanesque” (though it also contains elements of neo-Gothic architecture). With only practical furnishings and a few tapestries for decoration, it wasn’t exactly something out of Cinderella. There had to be as few openings as possible in case of attack, so windows were kept at a minimum. Older castles are typically blocky-looking, with thick curtain walls and rectangular, crenelated towers. While today castles are generally used as elaborate mansions or tourist attractions, the original purpose of castles was, of course, to provide a defensive fortification against attack rather than a vast home that a prince could give his princess. Today I found out that Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disney Land are modeled after Bavaria’s Neuschwanstein Castle.Įach castle was also inspired by several other castles, including Fontainebleau and Versailles, but with Neuschwanstein’s dainty turrets and romantic views, it’s easy to see how one castle could take the credit for such iconic masterpieces.
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