Neuschwanstein Castle: Study legend

The king worked (studying files, signing documents) at the large table in the middle of the room, where his writing set still stands: paperweight in the shape of a medieval reliquary, writing case with a cover modelled on precious medieval manuscripts.

The armchair is throne-like, with the House of Wittelsbach’s lozenge coat of arms and a crown based on medieval models, the motif being that of the crown of the new German Emperor of 1871. Ludwig II’s conflict between hated constitutional reality and the evocation of rulership is concentrated on this desk. The beams and consoles are richly carved according to historical models, as everywhere in the palace’s royal rooms.

The murals by Josef Aigner (1850-1912) depict the Tannhäuser saga. As in the opera of the same name by Richard Wagner (1813-1883), it is linked here in an unhistorical way to the Singers’ Contest at Wartburg Castle. The travelling knight and singer Tannhäuser falls in love with Elisabeth, the niece of the Landgrave of Thuringia. Since his love is hopeless because of the difference in status, he wanders the country miserably. Despite warnings, he reaches the Hörselberg, where the goddess Venus resides, and enjoys the pleasures of love for a year. But then he gets tired of the goddess, leaves the Hörselberg and arrives back at Wartburg Castle, where a singers’ contest is taking place. Tannhäuser shocks the singers with praises of sensual love. He is banished from Wartburg Castle, repents of his sins and makes a pilgrimage to Rome to seek forgiveness from the Pope. This is not granted to him, so he returns to the mountain of Venus.

Uwe Gerd Schatz