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"King Ludwig Night" at Linderhof Castle

Frederike Müller
August 24, 2018

Linderhof was the favorite castle of the Bavarian King Ludwig II. On the occasion of his 173rd birthday (August 25th), visitors celebrated his desire for beauty during the "King Ludwig Night".

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Bayern Schloss Linderhof König-Ludwig-Nacht
Image: Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung/Andrea Gruber

It was already the 11th time that the birthday of the fairy-tale king is celebrated at Schloss Linderhof in Allgäu with a "King Ludwig Night". On the 173rd birthday of the art-loving king, 1,500 candles illuminated the garden and castle, and also the waterside in front of the palace. The nocturnal guided tours of the castle, concerts and readings took visitors on a journey back into the king's fairytale world. This year, guests had to do without the Venus Grotto feature, which is being restored until 2022.

Ludwig called Linderhof his "king's house". From 1869 he had his father's former forest-house at an altitude of 1,000 meters rebuilt in rococo style and the garden, framed by the natural environment of forest and mountains, artistically landscaped.

The Ludwig castles are a tourist magnet in Bavaria. With 1.5 million visitors per year, Neuschwanstein is the most visited castle in the federal state. The other Ludwig castles also attracted a lot of visitors: more than 400,000 people came to Linderhof in 2017, and more than 376,000 to Herrenchiemsee.