0012, 0463 & 0899 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Dreams in Stone - the palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

0012 Neuschwanstein Castle (1)

Posted on 14.10.2011, 12.01.2013, 12.12.2013
With his gradual withdrawal from political life and escape into an ideal poetic world, King Ludwig II of Bavaria (r. 1864-1886) is one of the most fascinating ruling personalities of the 19th century. Prevented by foreign and domestic political constraints from putting his idealized vision of his role as king into practice, with Neuschwanstein Castle and the palaces of Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee in their unspoilt natural settings the monarch created artificial alternative worlds in which he could immerse himself in far-distant places and past eras.

0463 Neuschwanstein Castle (2)

Once crowned, eccentric but so cultivated Ludwig II simply implemented a childhood dream to build an never seen palace on the ruins of castles Vorderhohenschwangau and Hinterhohenschwangau, which he knew from his frequent trips on the hills around the village Schwangau. Unreserved admirer and devoted patron of Richard Wagner, Ludwig thought the Neuschwanstein Castle as a tribute to composer and style could not be other than the Neo-Romanesque, practically a romantic interpretation of the Middle Ages. Buildings, as imagined by the king, practically never ended, but he got to live there for two years until his suspect death in 1886, at the age of just 40.

0899 Neuschwanstein Castle (3)

At the time of Ludwig's death the palace was far from complete. The king never intended to make the palace accessible to the public, but no more than six weeks after the king's death the regent Luitpold ordered the palace opened to paying visitors, the administrators managing to balance the construction debts until 1899. Due to its secluded location, the palace survived the two World Wars without destruction, even if in WWII it served as a depot for Nazi plunder from France, and also as a depot for the gold of the German Reichsbank, and in april 1945 the SS had plans to blow up it to prevent the building itself and the artwork it contained from falling to the enemy.

About the stamps
On the postcard 0012
Postal stamps on the back of the postcard, no less than four, show concern for the details of the sender, for which I’m grateful to Valeriya. Three of them, two for 5 cents and one of 10, belong to the set Blumen (which I have writen here) and contain images with crocus (crocus longiflorus) and tulip.

The fourth is something else, an special commemorative stamp for the 125 years of the automobile, issued on 5th May 2011 by Federal Finance Ministry of Germany. On 29 January 1886 the Kaiserliche Patentamt (Imperial Patent Office) in Berlin granted Benz & Co. in Mannheim the patent No. 37,435 for a "vehicle with a gas engine drive system". The stamp shows the first motor car in the world, with a drawing of the patent as a background.

On the postcard 0463
The stamp, dedicated to the balloon flower, is also part of the Blumen series, about which I wrote here. Gorgeous is the fact that the postcard has even the stamp of the postal office of the castle.

On the postcard 0899
The first two stamps, depicting a tulip and a marigold, belong also to the set Blumen, about which I wrote here). The last stamp was issued on February 9, 2012 for commemorate 125 Years of Harz narrow-gauge railways.

Sender 0012: Valeria Zündel (direct swap)
Sent from Germany, on 10.10.2011
Photo: Häring
Sender 0463: Cătălin Frolov
Sent from Neuschwanstein castle (Germany), on 26.08.2012
Photo: Studio Verlag Kienberger
Sender 0899: Regina / hedwigregina (postcrossing)
Sent from Singen (Baden-Württemberg / Germany), on 10.12.2013