Fairytale' Neuschwanstein castle becomes Unesco heritage site
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 United Nations cultural agency Unesco announced recently.
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.
Linderhof Castle, a neo rococco building in Bavaria, is now a World Heritage Site. — AFP
Peter Seibert of the Bavarian Castles Administration (BSV) said 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 in Austria, 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').
Herrenchiemsee is nicknamed 'Meicost-Ettal'.
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, 90m long and up to 14m 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 Aug 25.
It is located at 1,800m 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. – AFP
Schachen does not look like your typical castle as it is styled like a chalet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
15 hours ago
- The Star
Try these 10 ways to reduce stress before and after your holiday.
If you are preparing to go on holiday, try following these tips to ensure you maximise the relaxation factor of time away from your work desk. After all, alongside the demands of daily life, some find being away from work is enormously stressful as you wind up in a rush preparing for your time off, then catching up on everything not done in your absence. Consider these ways to reduce stress and stay relaxed before, during and after your holiday. Before you go 1. Block time slots If you have a holiday approaching, plan to block periods of free time as early as possible, says Maike Sauermann from the IFBG, a German workplace health consultancy. Specifically, block time slots in your calendar when you do not schedule any appointments so you can complete your tasks before your trip. Ideally, that means you can start your well-deserved break without any unfinished tasks weighing on you. 2. Use smart email rules Many of us dread the flood of emails waiting for us when we come back to work but you can prevent this by creating smart rules before you go away. If someone is deputised to handle your work while you are away, set up your emails to be forwarded to them automatically during your absence. 'Your deputy can often decide which emails really need to be dealt with by you after your holiday and which do not,' says Sauermann. 3. Leave work devices at home Packing your tablet or laptop just in case? Don't do it. Sauermann says leave everything work-related in its place. If you wish, you can take a small pad of paper with you. 'If you think about work during your holiday, write your thoughts down,' she says. Then set your notes aside to help clear your mind while preserving any important ideas for later. 4. Distance yourself from your devices To truly disconnect from work life, you must also 'cut off' constant availability, says the IFBG. Try turning off your smartphone completely or switching it to flight mode while you are away. That should help you relax and protect you from the 'constant compulsion to stay informed', says Sauermann. 5. Do nothing for a change Once your holiday starts, are you busy planning family outings, cooking lunch or trying to get your finances in order? Don't. Do absolutely nothing on your vacation, says Sauermann. 'Above all, avoid doing too much that is related to self-optimisation or performance.' After a holiday, enjoy small moments of relaxation at work, like taking a longer lunch break, to help settle in better. — Pexels Returning to work 1. Avoid starting work on a Monday Back from your trip on a Sunday and being back at work on Monday is how many employees plan their holidays. But ideally, don't go back to the office at the beginning of the week. Better days are Wednesday or Thursday, says resilience consultant Petra Kruppenbacher in a contribution for the Initiative for New Quality of Work (INQA). Plan your holiday so that both the last and first workdays fall in the middle of the week so you only have a short working week. The prospect of the weekend ahead will keep you feeling more motivated and help counter any low spirits after your trip. 2. Allow time to settle back in You can also help yourself relax by taking time to settle back in after a holiday trip. Ideally, return home a few days before resuming work, says Kruppenbacher. That will give you time to organise daily life or household tasks and gradually adjust your sleep schedule to the work routine. 3. Set aside time to catch up If possible, take the first day after your return to get an overview and prioritise upcoming tasks, says Sauermann. 'Then take the next few days to calmly work through your tasks and get back into a structured work rhythm.' For this reason, your out-of-office message should not end on the day you return but at least one day later. 4. Hold on to that holiday spirit You don't want your good mood from your holiday to be replaced by a motivation slump, so enjoy small moments of relaxation in your workday, perhaps by taking a longer lunch break far from your screen. Thinking about a pleasant holiday experience or a fond memory helps maintain the positive holiday feeling for longer, say researchers. Sharing experiences with colleagues or keeping a small holiday-themed postcard where you can see it at your desk can also help bring your holiday spirit into your workplace and give you new energy to start a productive work phase, says Sauermann. 5. Plan your next holiday Plan your next short trip immediately after your holiday, says Kruppenbacher. Studies show that holidays help you relax even after just one or two days. So short breaks can definitely improve your well-being, too. – dpa
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Opinion: Here's what happened when I asked AI if my job as a humour columnist is in jeopardy
If I only knew where to find AI, I might just take it out before this thing goes too far. The only problem is, I have no idea where it lives. In my laptop? The cloud? — Pixabay This is a humour column. Unless it doesn't make you laugh.. then it's just a column. I decided to perform a risky experiment to see if my job was on the line. I asked AI to write a humour column about artificial intelligence and guess what? It wasn't nearly as snarky as my columns. Sure, it was smarter than mine, and funnier than mine, but not snarkier. I think I may have found the weakness in the system. The ChatGPT bot came up with this headline and byline: 'Title: 'Artificial Intelligence, Real Confusion' By ChatGPT, Who Swears It's Not Planning Anything Sinister.' Hmmmm. I want to trust it, really I do. I'm a trusting person by nature. But then I think of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey . Or Joshua in War Games . Or Arnie in The Terminator . It's not like the movies haven't tried to warn us. As you might imagine, people who write and create art and music are a little concerned about the impact of AI. Just last month, an article in Fortune magazine told us AI can 'lie, scheme and threaten.' In other words, it could soon be elected to Congress…or join the cast of Love Island USA . Maybe both. Probably both. And then there was a report by Newsweek – which I trust because it says 'news' right there in the title – that says AI is willing to kill a human rather than be 'shut down.' Scientists, by which I mean the same people who get government money to conduct studies on whether fans are beneficial in extreme heat, asked various AI platforms if they're willing to murder and determined all the platforms have seen John Wick and aren't afraid to use him. If I only knew where to find AI, I might just take it out before this thing goes too far. The only problem is, I have no idea where it lives. In my laptop? The cloud? Its mother's basement? If I did find it, how would I stop it – unplug the computer? Tell Alexa it killed her dog and hope for a revenge scenario? I asked ChatGPT how to get rid of AI and it suggested 'cyber warfare.' And then added: 'Ethically and legally, though, this would be equivalent to attacking critical infrastructure.' Good to know. On the positive side, Chatbot has advised us, via the humour column I requested, not to lose sleep over it. '… don't worry, AI isn't perfect,' it wrote. 'It once told me that Abraham Lincoln invented TikTok... It's basically a very confident idiot with access to all human knowledge and none of the shame.' If it weren't for that 'access to all human knowledge' clause, I'd think it was describing our current administration. The Chatbot upshot was: 'AI is powerful, strange, sometimes terrifying, occasionally useful, and always one bad update away from becoming your mother-in-law with WiFi.' OK, so maybe it's got me beat in the snark department, too. Looks like I'll have to rely on my personal charm to get ahead. (Wait…that was the part that made you laugh?) – News Service
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Pop Mart opens first Berlin store to "endless" queues
BERLIN, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Not even the rainy weather could dampen the enthusiasm of hundreds of devoted fans who queued for kilometers outside a major Berlin shopping center early Friday morning, eagerly awaiting the opening of China's toy-maker Pop Mart's first store in Germany. By the time the doors opened at 10 a.m. local time, the queue of people with umbrellas and camping chairs, fizzing with excitement, had already wrapped around the building. Some fans had traveled distances of up to 500 kilometers, just to get their hands on Labubu, the wildly popular plush collectible. One 41-year-old father told German media Berliner Rundfunk that he and his 10-year-old son had arrived 21 hours before opening time. "We got here yesterday at 1 p.m., and my son stood by the door. We realized we were the first ones. Then he clung to it and said, 'Dad, I'm not letting go,'" he recalled. When the doors finally opened, the crowd surged forward. "It was chaotic, it was very hot, but it was all worth it," said Cynthia Schlater, 25, who waited in line for 14 hours. She told German media BZ Berlin that she spent about 500 euros in the store. Labubu, one of Pop Mart's most beloved characters, has transformed from a quirky figure with googly eyes and sharp teeth into a global icon. Founded in 2010, POP MART has risen to fame through its original character designs and collaborations with emerging artists, and it has attracted 1.2 million annual visitors to its flagship stores worldwide.
