BERLIN, July 12, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The Neuschwanstein castle in Germany's 
Bavaria, perhaps best known for inspiring Walt Disney's fairytale castles, 
has been named a World Heritage site, the UN cultural agency announced on 
Saturday.

Three other royal residences, also constructed in the late 19th Century under 
the famously arts-obsessed King Ludwig II of Bavaria, were also added to the 
coveted list: Herrenchiemsee, Linderhof and Schachen.

Neuschwanstein, perched on a rocky, 200m-high Alpine crag, is Germany's most 
visited castle, with almost 1.5 million people flocking there every year.

"A fairytale comes true for our fairytale castles: We are #WorldHeritage!" 
Bavaria's governor, Markus Soeder, wrote on X after the announcement.

Neuschwanstein combines an idealised medieval exterior with architectural 
techniques considered cutting-edge at the time.

Its main rooms are adorned with paintings of German and Nordic legends, the 
same stories that inspired composer Richard Wagner, for whom Ludwig was a 
generous patron.

Peter Seibert of the Bavarian Castles Administration (BSV) told AFP that the 
UNESCO listing "is a very great responsibility, but also recognition... for 
the work we have done so far in preservation".

Philippe, a 52-year-old visitor from Canada, was surprised that the castle 
was not already a World Heritage Site.

"We're lucky to still be able to experience this," he said, calling the 
listing "a very good idea".

Herrenchiemsee meanwhile evokes a Versailles in miniature on a lake between 
Munich and Salzburg, an homage to absolute monarch Louis XIV of France, whom 
Ludwig admired.

Indeed Ludwig nicknamed Herrencheimsee "Meicost-Ettal", an anagram of Louis 
XIV's alleged aphorism "L'Etat, c'est moit" ("I am the state").

- 'Part of Bavarian identity' -

The third site in the UNESCO listing is the small castle of Linderhof, 
completed in 1878, the only one to have been finished in Ludwig's lifetime.

It mixes elements of French Baroque architecture from the reign of Louis XIV 
with touches of the Rococo style developed in southern Germany.

Its park boasts an artificial cave inspired by Wagner's opera Tannhaeuser, 90 
metres long and up to 14 metres high, which houses a grotto of Venus and was 
designed as a personal retreat for Ludwig.

The electric lighting system used in the cave was state of the art at the 
time, with glass discs used to illuminate the grotto in different colours.

The last of the four sites on the list is Schachen, a royal house in the 
style of a large Swiss chalet, where Ludwig liked to celebrate the saint's 
day of his namesake St Louis on August 25.

It is located at 1,800 metres above sea level, not far from Neuschwanstein.

The four castles have become "part of Bavarian identity" says Seibert, 
"iconic and perfectly embedded in a beautiful landscape".

Ironically, while Ludwig's architectural legacy is today a source of pride in 
Bavaria -- not to mention tourist revenue -- they were part of the reason for 
his own downfall.

The ruinous construction costs of the lavish residences led the Bavarian 
government to depose him, declaring him insane.

Interned in Berg Palace, he died shortly afterwards in mysterious 
circumstances at Lake Starnberg.