Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
Schloss Herrenchiemsee
( 688 70; www.herren-chiemsee.de ; adult/child/concession €8/free/7; tours
9am-6pm Apr-Oct, 9.40am-4.15pm Nov-Mar) An island just 1.5km across the Chiemsee
from Prien, Herreninsel is home to Ludwig II's Versailles-inspired Schloss Herrenchiem-
see. Begun in 1878, it was never intended as a residence, but as a homage to absolutist
monarchy, as epitomised by Ludwig's hero, the French Sun King, Louis XIV. Ludwig
spent only 10 days here and even then was rarely seen, preferring to read at night and
sleep all day.
The palace is typical of Ludwig's creations, its design and appearance the product of
the Bavarian monarch's romantic obsessions and unfettered imagination. Ludwig splurged
more money on this palace than on Neuschwanstein and Linderhof combined, but when
cash ran out in 1885, one year before his death, 50 rooms remained unfinished.
The rooms that were completed outdo each other in opulence. The vast Gesandten-
treppe (Ambassador Staircase), a double staircase leading to a frescoed gallery and
topped by a glass roof, is the first visual knockout on the guided tour, but that fades in
comparison to the stunning Grosse Spiegelgalerie (Great Hall of Mirrors). This tunnel of
light runs the length of the garden (98m, or 10m longer than that in Versailles). It sports
52 candelabra and 33 great glass chandeliers with 7000 candles, which took 70 servants
half an hour to light. In late July it becomes a wonderful venue for classical concerts.
The Paradeschlafzimmer (State Bedroom) features a canopied bed perching altarlike
on a pedestal behind a golden balustrade. This was the heart of the palace, where morning
and evening audiences were held. But it's the king's bedroom, the Kleines Blaues Sch-
lafzimmer (Little Blue Bedroom), that really takes the cake. The decor ation is sickly
sweet, encrusted with gilded stucco and wildly extravagant carvings. The room is bathed
in a soft blue light emanating from a glass globe at the foot of the bed. It supposedly took
18 months for a technician to perfect the lamp to the king's satisfaction.
Admission to the palace also entitles you to a spin around the König Ludwig II Mu-
seum , where you can see the king's christening and coronation robes, more blueprints of
megalomaniac buildings and his death mask.
To reach the palace, take the hourly or half-hourly ferry from Prien-Stock (€7.10 return,
15 to 20 minutes) or from Bernau-Felden (€8.30, 25 minutes, May to October). From the
boat landing on Herreninsel, it's about a 20-minute walk through pretty gardens to the
palace. Palace tours, offered in German or English, last 30 minutes.
CASTLE
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