Linderhof Castle owes its name to the presence of a mighty lime tree, (Linde in German), which has been in the park for centuries. King Maximilian II transformed it in the nineteenth century into a hunting lodge and in 1869 his son Ludwig II bought the surrounding land with the intention of building a "royal villa".
Of all the palaces owned by him, the Linderhof Castle was the favorite residence of Ludwig II, where he loved to stay for entire periods, in complete solitude, to devote himself to his favorite pastimes, such as walking or listening to music; he also used to call it Meicost Ettal, a name invented by anagramming a famous phrase attributed to the Sun King, "l'État c'est moi" (the State is me).
In fact, in this castle the passion and veneration that Ludwig II had for the French royal family of the Sun King, and for that historical period, is very strong; the unfortunate Queen Marie Antoinette had become for him a figure to be venerated, and she had her erect a bust at the entrance to the park that she used to caress every day to pay her homage.
Even the very realization of the Linderhof Castle project fully represented the refuge created for the Queen at her Petit Trianon Di Versailles, a place intended for Marie Antoinette's private leisure and entertainment, where only a select few were invited to enter. In the same way, Linderhof became the private refuge of Ludwig II who did not want to make it yet another representative palace.
Also part of the castle is the wonderful garden that frames it with its perfect geometries, fountains, sumptuous statues and two oriental-style pavilions, purchased at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867 and 1878: the Moorish kiosk (Maurischer Kiosk) with the suggestive peacock throne and the Moroccan house (Marokkanisches Haus), which, sold by the Bavarian government on Ludwig's death in 1886, was bought back and brought back to the park in 1998.
Both can only be seen from the outside.
Linderhof Castle
Address: Linderhof 12, 82488
Phone: +49 8822 92030
Site:
http://www.schlosslinderhof.de/Location inserted by
giulia