Neuschwanstein Castle Timeline

In 1868, the ruins of the medieval twin castles were completely demolished; the remains of the old keep were blown up to make way for the new palace.

The foundation stone for Neuschwanstein was laid on 5 September 1869. The three-winged complex was built between 1869 and 1892 based on plans by Eduard Riedel in the Neo-Romanesque style. Completion was originally projected for 1872 but was repeatedly deferred.

In 1870, a society was founded for insuring the workers at the site, for a low monthly fee augmented by the King himself.

By 1872, the cellar of the new palace was completed, marking steady progress on the ambitious building project.

In 1874, management of the civil works passed from Eduard Riedel to Georg von Dollmann, who continued directing the construction of the palace.

Image source: Georg von Dollmann

By 1876, everything up to the first floor of the palace was complete, with the gatehouse being finished first among the structures.

Statistics from the years 1879/1880 support an immense amount of building materials: 465 tonnes of Salzburg marble, 1,550 tonnes of sandstone, 400,000 bricks, and 2,050 cubic metres of wood for the scaffolding.

In 1880, about 200 craftsmen were occupied at the site, not counting suppliers and other persons indirectly involved in the construction.

The topping out ceremony for the Palas, the main hall of the castle, took place in 1880, marking a major milestone in the construction.

At the end of 1882, part of the complex was completed and fully furnished, allowing Ludwig to take provisional lodgings there and observe the ongoing construction work.

By 1886, the external structure of the Palas was mostly finished. The interior of the royal living space was also mostly completed in 1886; the lobbies and corridors were painted in a simpler style by 1888.

Linderhof, the smallest of Ludwig's palace projects, was finished in 1886, while Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee remained incomplete.

Image source: Linderhof Palace

Work on the Bower had not started during the King's lifetime, but it was completed in a simplified form by 1892, without the planned figures of the female saints. The three-winged complex was thus built between 1869 and 1892.

In the last years prior to 1914, King Ludwig's castles were probably the single largest income source earned by the Bavarian royal family.

When Bavaria became a republic in 1918, the government socialised the civil list, changing the legal status of the former royal palaces.

Image source: People's State of Bavaria

The resulting dispute with the House of Wittelsbach led to a split in 1923: King Ludwig's palaces, including Neuschwanstein, fell to the state and are now managed by the Bavarian Palace Department, a division of the Bavarian finance ministry.

Image source: House of Wittelsbach

The first performance in the castle's hall took place in 1933 and was a concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of Richard Wagner's death.

Visitor numbers continued to rise steadily since the castle opened to the public, reaching 200,000 visitors in 1939.

Until 1944, the castle served as a depot for Nazi plunder taken from France by the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Institute for the Occupied Territories, a suborganisation of the Nazi Party.

In April 1945, near the end of World War II, the SS considered blowing up the palace to prevent the building and the artwork it contained from falling into enemy hands. The plan was never carried out.

A meteorite that reached Earth spectacularly on 6 April 2002 at the Austrian border near Hohenschwangau was named Neuschwanstein after the palace. Three fragments were found: Neuschwanstein I (1.75 kg, found July 2002) and Neuschwanstein II (1.63 kg, found May 2003) on the German side, and Neuschwanstein III (2.84 kg, found June 2003) on the Austrian side near Reutte.

Image source: Neuschwanstein (meteorite)

In 2004, the revenues from the castle's operations were booked at €6.5 million, reflecting its status as a major tourist attraction.

In 2007, Neuschwanstein Castle was a finalist in the widely publicised online selection of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Image source: New 7 Wonders of the World

As of 2008, the total number of visitors to Neuschwanstein Castle exceeded 60 million, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.

After becoming the motif of a West German definitive stamp in 1977, Neuschwanstein Castle appeared on a €2 commemorative coin for the German Bundesländer series in 2012.

On 14 June 2023, two young American tourists were assaulted by a 30-year-old American near Marienbrücke, killing one of them.

On 12 July 2025, Neuschwanstein Castle was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with Linderhof, Schachen, and Herrenchiemsee, as part of the site 'The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria'.