Neuschwanstein is a German word and it means New Swan Stone Palace in English. The Neuschwanstein Castle was built during the 19th century on a hill in Bavaria, Germany.

The castle was specially made by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The Neuschwanstein Castle is the largest photographed building in Germany even though the interiors of the castle cannot be photographed. The castle is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Germany due to its scenic beauty and gorgeous surroundings.

History
During the rule of Ludwig, no visitors were allowed in the castle. It was only after his death in 1886 that the castle was opened for all to view. It is amazing to know that till now, 50 million people have visited the castle. More than 1.3 million tourists visit the castle annually. If we calculate the per day visits, more than six thousand tourists come to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle daily.

Hollywood

The castle has so much of a charm that even Hollywood could not lay its hands off it. In fact, the castle has come into sight in several movies. To name a few, the Neuschwanstein Castle was an inspiration to the Sleeping Beauty Castle, Cinderella Castles and Tokyo Disneyland.

Tourists Information

The Neuschwanstein Castle is a property of Bavaria and Bavaria has spent more than 14.5 million dollars in it safeguarding and renovation. The castle has a lot of magical charm to it. Since photography inside the castle is not allowed, most visitors take back with them sweet & pleasant memories. Visit to the Neuschwanstein Castle is a must if you are taking a tour of Germany.

Picture of Neuschwanstein Castle Taken From the Ground
Photo by: Maurice, Creative Commons

Picture of Neuschwanstein Castle taken from the top after a high hiked
Photo by: jeffwilcox, Creative Commons

The Neue Pinakothek, situated in Munich, Germany,  is a fine arts museum which mainly highlights the European art works from the 18th and 19th centuries. The Neue Pinakothek and Pinakothek der Moderne museums are a division of Munich’s “Kunstareal”.

The Bavarian Emperor Ludwig I founded the museum in the year 1853. The first building was constructed by August von Voit and Friedrich von Gartner, and was later destroyed during the time of World War II. Any remaining ruins of the building were destroyed completely in 1949. The present Neue Pinakothek building was built by Alexander Freiherr von Branca, a German architect, and in 1981 the building was finally opened.

The Neue Pinakothek museum is under the administration of Bavarian State Picture Collection ad there are currently about 3,000 classic European paintings dispayed there.

The collections display the international paintings of Francisco de Goya portraying him as a doctor; Don Jose Queralto, Jacques-Louis David, Johann Friedrich August Tischbein paintings of Nicolas Chatelain and Anton Graff’s paintings of Heinrich XIII.

English paintings
The English paintings contained in the collections are from the United Kingdom, these collections are the known as the masterworks which include the paintings of

• Thomas Gainsborough painting displaying the shepherds and the flocks
• John Constable
• David Wilkie
• Henry Raeburn
• George Romney
• William Hogarth
• J. M. W. Turner
• Thomas Lawrence
• Joshua Reynolds
• Richard Wilson

German paintings
The German paintings display the work of Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow, Friedrich Overbeck, Peter von Hess, Heinrich Maria von Hess and Peter von Cornelius.

Sculptures
The sculptures belonging to the 19th century are the works of Pablo Picasso, Antonio Canova, Rudolph Schadow, Aristide Maillol, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Max Klinger and Auguste Rodin.

Today, the Neue Pinakothek is an impressive place to visit. The museum has become a famous spot, which attracts people from all over the world. The museum opens at 10am and closes at 6pm except on Wednesdays where the museum stays open until 8pm and on Tuesdays, which is a holiday. The entry fee is about 4 Euros for adults and 9 Euros on special exhibits.

The Heidelberg Castle, located in Germany, is a famous ruin and the signpost for Heidelberg. It was built in the year 1214 in a Gothic and Renaissance style, and was expanded into two new castles. A large part of the castle was destroyed by lighting strikes in the years 1537 and 1764.

Prince Ruprecht III was the first person who made the castle as a royal residence and added several structures to it including the outer walls, ground floors of the castle and the outlines in the upper level that are built with stone.  He also added an imperial building known as “Fountain Hall” across from the castle. These two buildings were raised up under the reigns of Frederick IV and Ottheinrich. Today, these two buildings are considered as best buildings in terms of German architecture.

The West-side of the castle, built by Frederick V, is known as the “English Building”. The castle and gardens were devastated during the time of 30 Years War, however it was restored by Prince Karl Ludwig to just later be destroyed by the French Army. Prince Karl Theodore tried campaigning for the restoration of the building, but it never happened.

In the year 1764 a bolt of lightening hit the castle and the castle was severely damaged, and later the castle was changed to a quarry. The stones from the ruins of the castle were later used in building the houses in Heidelberg. However this process was stopped by Charles de Graimberg, who tried to preserve the ruins of the castle and who added King’s Hall to the castle in the year 1934.

Today, the King’s Hall is used for many events such as parties, stage performances, dinners and several other events. The Heidelberg Castle Festival, which is held every summer, is also held in the castle courtyard, where musicals and theater shows are held.

The castle opens at 8 am and closes at 5pm. The entry fee is about 3 Euros for adults and 1.5 Euros for children.

Traveling to Heidelberg Castle

Frankfurt Airport operates daily service to Heidelberg. Frequent train services are available from Mannheim. In addition, there are number public bus services.

Panorama view of the town of Goslar taken from the market church in Saxony, Germany
Photo from: wikipedia, Creative Commons

History

Goslar  has its history from the Neolithic period. Henry I, the Salian Emperor, founded Goslar in the 10th century following the detection of silver deposits in the Rammelsberg mines. The wealth discovered was what brought the Emperor to Goslar.

The Goslar Medieval Imperial Palace built in the 11th century and served as a residence for various German Emperors including Henry III.

Attractions

The Odeon Theater is Goslar town’s major theater. The theater is maintained by volunteers and often hosts cultural events and comedy shows.

Museums

The Goslar town has several museums including the following

• Goslar Museum
• The Town Hall Gothic Museum
• Museum and Visitor’s Mine Rammelsberg,
• The Mediaeval Imperial Palace Museum
• Monks’ House, Museum for Contemporary and Modern Arts
• Zwinger Tower and Dungeon, Museum for Late Mediaeval History

Sports

Football (soccer) is the major sport, but motor sports, rock climbing, biking and swimming are also popular sports here.

Events

The Goslar Festival is held in the month of July.
The Old Town Festival is celebrated in the month of September.

Traveling

The nearest airport is the Brunswick-Wolfsburg Airport which is located 24 miles from Goslar.
The Hanover and Brunswick train services are available frequently.
Brunswick regional transport provides frequent bus services from the central railway station.

The Garmisch-Partenkirchen, located in Bavaria (south Germany), is a market place and organizational center to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district. It also shares a border with Austria. Garmisch is famous for the winter sports held at the Bavarian Alps. The town was formed in the year 1935 as a unification of Garmisch and Partenkirchen villages. The Garmisch and Partenkirchen village mayors were forced, by Adolf Hitler, to combine both the villages as a part of Winter Olympic Games that were held in the year 1936. From that time on both of the villages were united.

The Garmisch-Partenkirchen was the location of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games. The traditional ski jumping was held on the New Year’s Day of that year. In addition, various Ski jumping’s were also held here at the Kandahar Way. The Alpine World Ski Championships, that took place in the year 1978, were also held here. They are to be held there in 2011 as well.

There are several educational institutions located in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen villages, namely the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. This institution serves as a conference center for all the governments in the world and the institution is maintained by the funds which are given from all over the world. There is also a recreation center for the American Armed Forces which serves NATO and U.S. families. In the current days, the U.S. troops still provide security and support to the Edelweiss recreation center.

Important Facts

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is the hometown of the famous German writer Michael Ende and the famous German Composer Richard Strauss.

In the present days Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a famous tourist spot for snowboarding, hiking and skiing. The 2018 Olympic Games are to be held here as well.

Traveling to Garmisch-Partenkirchen

The easiest way to reach Garmisch-Partenkirchen is by train, where a Frankfurt to Munich train service is available frequently.

There are also several bus and taxi services available, which can cost about 20 Euros.

The Dresden Frauenkirche, also known as the “Church of Our Lady”, is located in Dresden, Germany.

The Dresden Frauenkirche is a Protestant cathedral that was built by Fredrick August I. The church was designed by George Bahr, a German architect, who died before the construction of the church. In the year1736, Gottfried Silbermann, an organ maker constructed a three manual organ for the church. On November 25th, 1736,  the organ was presented to the church.

The construction of the dome was completed in the year 1760. It was about 96 meters high and was named “Stone Bell”. The Dome is often compared to St Peters Basilica, in Rome. The dome was hit by 100 cannonballs by the Prussian army during the time of Seven Years War, but in despite of attacks on the church like this one, it still survived.

On February 13th, 1945, the Anglo-American forces bombed Dresden Frauenkirche with almost 650,000 bombs, and the church lasted for two days under such strong attacks. The temperature caused by bombings reached upwards of1000 degrees which caused the dome to collapse on February 15th, taking with it the pillars and outer walls, thus destroying the entire structure of the church.

After the destruction of the church, several attempts were made to rebuild it. Gunter Blobel was the first person who took an active part in campaigning for the church’s restoration. He even donated one million dollars, which he was given with the Nobel Prize he was given for his contributions in the field of medicine.

Finally in 1994, the construction of the church began under the supervision of Eberhard Burger, who used the previous plans of the church by Georg Bahr. The church was constructed based on the pictures of the old church. The chapel was finished in 1996 and the dome was completed in the year 2000. Many pieces of the previous church’s ruins were used in the construction of the new church. Almost 8,500 stones of the previous one were taken, but only 3800 stones were used in the new building.

In addition, seven bells were added to the church in the year 2003, and Martin Luther’s bronze statue that survived the bombings was restored at the church entrance. On June 22nd of 2004, the construction was completed.

In present day, the Dresden Frauenkirche stands as a fine example in the field of construction. The Dresden Frauenkirche is also a popular tourist spot that is visited by the people from all over the world

Maulbronn is a city located in the Enzkreis District of south Germany that was founded in the year 1838 and raised from a settlement. Maulbronn was built as a residence for the Neckar Community that belonged to the Wurtteremberg Kingdom. Maulbronn became an official city and served as an organizational center until 1938.

Maulbronn is famous for its “Maulbronn Abbey” monastery, which was included in the novel “Beneath the Wheel” by Hermann Hesse and was listed among the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993.

The Maulbronn Abbey was built by the monks who were passing through the valley following a mule in search of pure water. The mule was able to show the way to the monks. The monks then built the Maulbronn Abbey as a tribute to the mule.

Maulbronn Abbey was founded in the year 1147, with the support of Eugenius III, who was the first Cistercian Pope. The Maulbronn Abbey was built in the Gothic and Romanesque style and was sanctified in 1178 by the bishop Arnold. The chapel, auditorium, south cloister, hall and mill were added to the church in the 13th century and following this, the north, east and west cloisters were added during the 14th century.

Today, Maulbronn Abbey is a great tourist spot which is visited by the people from all over the World. Maulbronn Abbey opens at 9.00 am and closes at 5.00 pm in between March to October and in between November to April the Maulbronn Abbey opens at 9.30 am and closes at 5.00 pm.

The Deutsches Museum is located in Munich, Germany and is the world’s largest Museum in terms of science and technology. Every year 1.3 million people visit the museum and 28,000 new projects from 50 different fields in science and technology are exhibited.

On June 28th, in the year 1903, the museum was founded by Oskar von Miller, a German Engineer, at the German Engineers Association meeting. Munich City presented Coal Island for the museum. The exhibit collections came from the  Bavarian Academy in Munich City. The temporary exhibits were opened in the museum on November 12th in the year 1906.  The next day the foundation for the Deutsches Museum was created.

The museum was officially opened on May 2nd in 1925, on Oskar von Miller 70th birthday. From that day on, the museum contained the important documents of the library. During the World War II, the museum building was severely damaged and about 20% of all other museums were destroyed. The museum was restored in 1945.

Around the year 1950, the museum’s attention to science and technology diminished and such exhibits were reduced in number. In the year 1969, this changed with the Apollo 8 space shell exhibit titled  “Man and Space”. Because of this exhibit, technology was again given importance at the museum.

In present day, the Deutsches Museum contains a collection of airplanes including German planes from 1950 through 1960 and Russian and Vietnamese fighter planes. It also contains a workshop, which is dedicated to the airplanes. In 1995, a new branch of the Deutsches Museum was opened in Boon City, Germany that displayed German science and technology. There were also a number of exhibits belonging to different fields, which are listed below:

• Aerospace
• Agriculture
• Amateur Radio
• Astronautics
• Astronomy
• Bridge Building
• Ceramics
• Chemistry
• Chronometry
• Computers
• Electrical Power
• Energy Technology
• Environment
• Glass
• History of the Deutsches Museum
• Hydraulic engineering
• Machine Components
• Machine Tools
• Marine Navigation
• Masterpieces
• Mathematical Gallery
• Mining (Historical and Modern)
• Metallurgy
• Microelectronics
• Mineral Oil and Natural Gas
• Music
• Paper
• Pharmacy
• Physics
• Power Machinery
• Printing
• Scientific Instruments
• Telecommunications
• Textile Technology
• Tunnel Construction
• Weights and Measures

The museum opens at 9.00 am and closes at 5.00 pm, but some departments of the museum stay open until 8pm. The entry fee is about 8.50 Euros for adults and 3 Euros for children.

Cologne Cathedral is the main home of the Cologne Archbishop and it is an important testimonial to Christianity. The Cologne Cathedral was built in the Gothic style and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Peter. It is also a part of UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cathedral is rich for its architecture and was described by UNESCO as an “exceptional work of human creative genius”.

The present cathedral was built on the site of a Roman temple from the 4th century that is known as the “old cathedral”. The “old cathedral” was completed in the year 818 and in the year 1248 it was burnt. On August 15th, that same year, the construction of the present cathedral began. Since then, several structures were added during different centuries. The eastern section of the cathedral was completed in the year 1322 under the supervision of Master Gerhard. In the 14th century the construction of the towers began under the supervision of Master Michael, but the work was halted and the south tower was incomplete until finally, in the 18th century, the towers were completed and bells were added to them.

The Cologne Cathedral stands at a height of 157.25 meters high and is Germany’s second largest and worlds third largest structure. In the 13th century the construction of the cathedral began, and took about 632 years to complete. The cathedral is about 144 meters long and the towers are about 157 meters high and 86 meters broad.
Architecture:

The cathedral was built in the French Gothic Style. The windows are high, and are made of glass. The carvings on the choir and the huge stone statue of St Christopher, at the entrance of the cathedral are done in the French style.

Attractions

The architecture of the cathedral was the main attraction. The twelve bells of the cathedral, some of which are from the medieval age, are also a highlight here.

Interesting facts

It is said that the cathedral contains the bones and clothes of the Three Wise Man (the three kings from the East, who visited Jesus Christ following his birth). During the World War II the cathedral was hit by fourteen bombs, but the cathedral was not destroyed, every one believed that it was a miracle from God. In the present day, the Cathedral s a major pilgrimage place and millions of people visit the cathedral from all over the world.

The cathedral opens at 6.00 am in the morning and closes at 7.30pm in the evening, there is generally no entrance fee, but a special admission fee of 4 Euros is collected for the treasury and tower ascent sections.

Traveling to Cologne Cathedral

A number of flight services are available from the Cologne Boon Airport. Frequent train services are available from the Cologne railway station. In addition, a tram, cars and public bus services are also available.

The Munich Residence is located in Munich, Germany and is the Bavarian monarch’s royal palace. The Munich Residence is Germany’s largest city center and one of Europe’s best decorative museums.

The building includes ten courtyards and 130 rooms that are used by the museum. The building is divided into three major parts, which are known as the Alte Residenz, the Konigsbau and Festsaalbau. In addition, there is a Curvillies Theatre in a division of Festsaalbau. A park is located on the northern side of Festsaalbau, which was built by Maximilian I. It was built in a French style and also contains a circular temple that is crowned by a Bavarian statue.

The first building of the Munich residence was constructed in the year 1385. A new castle was later built in the place of the old building as a residence to the Wittelsbach rulers. The building was built in  Baroque, Classicism, Renaissance and Rococo styles.

The palace is famous for its collections, where a number of crowns, goldsmith works, ivory work and tableware are displayed. The collections are as follows:

• Emperor Charles Prayer book belonging to 860 ca
• Emperor Arnulf altar-ciborium belonging to 890 ca
• Empress Cunigunde crown
• Emperor Henry II, cross
• Queen Gisela cross belonging to 1000 ca
• Emperor Henry crown belonging to (ca. 1270),
• English Queen’s crown belonging to (ca. 1370),
• St George statue belonging to 1599 ca
• Bavaria crown belonging to 1804
• Queen Therese and ruby jewelry and ceremonial swords
• The Bavarian Emperors emblem and orders
• Emperor Charles VII emblem

The museum also contains the coin gallery founded by Albert V, where 300,000 Bavarian state’s coins, banknotes and medals belonging to the ancient past are displayed. It is one of the most extensive collections in the world.