100th anniversary of death of King Ludwig II. from Bavaria - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1986 - 60 Pfennig

Hereditary Prince Ludwig was born on August 25, 1845 in Nymphenburg Castle near Munich. His father was Crown Prince Maximilian, later King Maximilian II .; his mother Marie was a born Princess of Prussia. Ludwig spent part of his youth in Hohenschwangau Castle, which his father had rebuilt in the Gothic Revival style. Hereditary Prince Ludwig, like his three years younger brother Otto, was brought up according to consistent reports. Ludwig learned fluent French, enough Latin and some Greek. King Maximilian II died in 1864 surprisingly. Ludwig followed him completely unprepared for the throne in the 19th year. The citizens of Munich, as well as foreign ambassadors, were enthusiastic about the outward appearance of the youthful king. One compared the young Bavarian King with the Swan Knight Lohengrin. Especially mention the contemporaries, even shortly before the death of the king, the expressive eyes of the monarch. From this time comes the portrait of the king on the stamp. The lack of experience in government business tried Ludwig II initially compensate for enthusiasm and zeal. However, the idealistic king had difficulty in asserting himself against the ministerial bureaucracy of that time and coming to terms with the pragmatics of daily government work. Personal disappointments soon became political, so that Ludwig II withdrew more and more into the solitude of the Bavarian mountains. It must be stressed, however, that until shortly before his death he dealt with the government's work. Reich Chancellor Bismarck, who certainly knew something about politics, said about Ludwig II in 1883: he understands governance even better today than all his ministers. The great political task in the 19th century was the unification of Germany. With her, the key personalities since 1815 apart. Only when Prussia made this agreement to his concern and Bismarck became the director, the agreement was realized from 1866. Finally, the "Iron Chancellor" appointed the Bavarian king, King William of Prussia, who was a cousin of Ludwig II, to accept the imperial crown on behalf of the German princes. Ludwig underwent this task only reluctantly and not without some special rights for Bavaria. These rights belonged to the legation of legation, d. H. the right in the European capitals own Kgl. Bavarian legations. The Bavarian monarch also used these embassies to procure designs or pieces of equipment for his castle projects. In February 1861 Crown Prince Ludwig (Maximilian was king since 1848) Lohengrin had seen as the first Wagner opera. The opera visit was an overwhelming experience for the young crown prince. Immediately after his accession Ludwig II had the composer Richard Wagner, who once again was on the run from his creditors, bring to Munich. Through monthly financial support Ludwig allowed the composer a life that should be free of material worries, only poetic and compositional works. For the performance of Wagner's works, a monumental festival theater based on Wagner's ideas and Gottfried von Semper's plans was to be built on the right bank of the Isar. The project finally failed less because of the resistance of the citizens of Munich or money, but because of the disagreement between the three parties involved: King Ludwig II, the composer Richard Wagner and the architect Gottfried von Semper. Instead of the monumental building in Munich, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus was finally built in the form of a timber construction, which probably corresponded even more to Wagner's intentions. Supposedly the composer wanted from the beginning only a "shack". When the resigned King Louis I died in 1868, Ludwig II was able to dispose of all the civilian resources. Now Ludwig II was able to deal with Baudingen on a large scale. From 1868 on, the various projects of the Bavarian King can be traced: the rebuilding of the "old ruin Hohenschwangau", from which castle Neuschwanstein became in 1869, the construction of the royal house at Linderhof to the future castle Linderhof, a castle project like "Versailles", which finally 1878 on the island Herrenchiemeee was realized, and finally the planned reconstruction of the ruin Falkenstein at Pfrondten. Despite detailed planning and detailed construction plans, Ludwig II finally exhausted and overcame his resources. Since privately - as government bonds did not come about - the king did not want to restrict his building activity, personal catastrophe and death seem inevitable. If one must also designate the medical report, which served for the incapacitation of the king, as a purposeful report, no killing intentions of Agnaten of the Kgl. House be detected. Based on the published since 1886 files can not be a final judgment on the death of the king in Lake Starnberg. For death, Ludwig II once said about himself: "I want to remain an eternal mystery to myself and to others". (Text: Dr. Stierhof, Bavarian Administration of State Castles, Gardens and Lakes, Munich)