Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th-century neo-romanticist palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner.

The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public right after his death in 1886. Since that time over 60 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with up to 6,000 per day in the summer. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Funding
The king's wishes and demands expanded during the construction of Neuschwanstein, and so did the expenses. Drafts and estimated costs were revised repeatedly. Initially a modest study was planned instead of the great throne hall, and projected guest rooms were struck from the drafts to make place for a Moorish Hall, which eventually could not be realised due to continued lack of resources. Completion was originally projected for 1872, but deferred repeatedly.

Neuschwanstein, the symbolic medieval knight's castle, was not Ludwig II's only huge construction project. It was followed by the rococo style Lustschloss of Linderhof Palace and the baroque palace of Herrenchiemsee, a monument for the era of absolutism. Linderhof, the smallest of the projects, was finished in 1886; the other two remain incomplete. All three projects together drained his resources enormously. The king paid for his construction projects by private means and from his civil list income. Contrary to frequently heard claims, the Bavarian treasury was not directly burdened by his buildings. From 1871 Ludwig had an additional secret income in return for a political favor given to Otto von Bismarck.

The construction costs of Neuschwanstein to the king's lifetime amounted to 6.2 million mark, almost twice the initial cost estimate of 3.2 million mark. As his private means were insufficient for his increasingly escalating construction projects, the king continuously took up new credits. In 1876, a court counselor was replaced after pointing out the danger of insolvency. By 1883 he already owed 7 million mark, and in spring 1884 and August 1885 debt conversions of 7½ million mark and 6½ million mark, respectively, became necessary.

Even after his debts had reached 14 million mark, Ludwig insisted on continuation of his architectural projects; he threatened to commit suicide if his creditors would take hold of his palaces. In early 1886 Ludwig asked his cabinet for a credit of 6 million mark, which was denied. In April he followed Bismarck's advice to apply for the money to his parliament. In June, the Bavarian government decided to depose the king, who was living at Neuschwanstein at the time. On June 9th he was incapacitated, and on June 10th he had the deposition commission arrested in the Gatehouse. In expectation of the commission he had alarmed the gendarmerie and fire brigades of surrounding places for his protection. A second commission headed by Bernhard von Gudden arrived on the next day, and the king was forced to leave the palace in the same night. Ludwig was put under the supervision of von Gudden. On June 13th both died under mysterious circumstances in the shallow shore water of Lake Starnberg near Castle Berg.

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