Two of the most famous castles in Germany are Burg Hohenzollern in Baden Wurttemburg and Neuschwanstein (of course) in Bavaria. And though they were both constructed as part of that Romantic effort to forge an identity, there is a crucial difference between them – a difference which demonstrates the scope of the Romantic agenda.
Rebuilding old castle ruins was, in the 19th century, a crucial means of constructing a German identity. Some of the most magnificent castle reconstructions were directed at shaping the public’s sense of identity and historical rootedness (as well as developing in the public psyche a sense of the legitimacy of its rulers). Burg Hohenzollern is a pretty stunning example of this sort of castle.
Rebuilding old castle ruins was, in the 19th century, a crucial means of constructing a German identity. Some of the most magnificent castle reconstructions were directed at shaping the public’s sense of identity and historical rootedness (as well as developing in the public psyche a sense of the legitimacy of its rulers). Burg Hohenzollern is a pretty stunning example of this sort of castle.
In the 11th century an ancestor of the Hohenzollern imperial dynasty built a castle on a mountain in Baden-Wurttemburg. By the early 19th century it was a ruin, but between 1846 and 1867 it was rebuilt by king Frederic William IV of Prussia (called by some “the Romantic King,” due to his extensive renovations of old buildings throughout his domain).
It was never meant to be a residence, however; in fact, the King only visited it seven times during his reign. It had a distinctly political function, rather: it was meant to demonstrate the deep Hohenzollern roots in southern Germany – a useful thing to do when laying the groundwork for a Prussian-led, Hohenzollern-ruled German Empire.
As a Romantic reconstruction of the middle ages, Burg Hohenzollern is in bright contrast to the (in)famous Neuschwanstein. Ludwig II of Bavaria began laying the first stone of his fantasy-castle at nearly the same moment work on Burg Hohenzollern was finishing up.
Whereas Hohenzollern was designed as a public monument, Neuschwanstein was constructed as a purely private residence. Ludwig didn’t intend it to be a public building at all. Of course its fantastic silhouette, cast against that dramatic Alpine backdrop, couldn’t help but make a powerful public impression; I suspect that impression was that of the troubled, brilliant monarch’s own psyche, however, rather than any sense of national identity.
If Burg Hohenzollern was constructed to express and shape a national, imperial identity, Neuschwanstein was designed to express and shape a very particular psyche: that of Ludwig II. It embodies an aesthete’s vision of the Middle Ages.
The Wagnerian murals on the walls, the storybook grottoes and fairy-tale architecture: perhaps Ludwig’s dreams did indeed tap into some dark folkloric stream in the collective German unconscious. If so, whatever water fountained to the surface at Neuschwanstein was filtered through a pretty elaborate psyche before seeping back into those subterranean pools…
The water-filled grotto at the heart of Neuschwanstein: the interior of the palace is here literally a theater, built for the production of Wagner's Lohengrin.