page_title: Herrenchiemsee
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Herrenchiemsee / New Palace / Architecture
context_page_description: Herrenchiemsee is a complex of royal buildings on Herreninsel, the largest island in the Chiemsee lake, in southern Bavaria, Germany. Together with the neighbouring isle of Frauenchiemsee and the uninhabited Krautinsel, it forms the municipality of Chiemsee, located about 60 kilometres southeast of Munich.
  The island, formerly the site of an Augustinian monastery, was purchased by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in 1873. The king had the premises converted into a residence, known as the Old Palace. From 1878 onwards, he had the New Herrenchiemsee Palace erected, based on the model of Versailles. It was the largest, but also the last of his building projects, and remained incomplete. Today maintained by the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens and Lakes, Herrenchiemsee is accessible to the public and a major tourist attraction.
context_section_description: Unlike the medieval themed Neuschwanstein, begun in 1869, the Neo-Baroque New Palace stands as a monument to Ludwig's admiration of King Louis XIV of France. Its great Hall of Mirrors' ceiling is painted with 25 frescoes showing Louis XIV at his best.
  The palace was shaped in a 'W' with wings flanking the central edifice. Only 16 of the 70 rooms were on the ground floor. Though it was to have been an equivalent to the Palace of Versailles, only the central portion was built before the king died and construction was discontinued with 50 of the 70 rooms still incomplete. It was never intended to be a perfectly exact replica of the French royal palace and in several places even surpasses it. Like Versailles, the Hall of Mirrors has 17 arches, the Hall of Peace and the Hall of War on either side have three windows each. The window niches at Herrenchiemsee are slightly wider than those at Versailles, making its central façade a few metres wider. The dining room features an elevator table and the world's largest Meissen porcelain chandelier. Technologically, the building also benefits from nearly two centuries of progress.  The original Versailles palace lacked toilets, water, and central heating, while the New Palace has all of these, including a large heated bathtub.
  Herrenchiemsee New Palace always remained slightly in the shadow of the Neuschwanstein:
  The palace had been built at a mostly inaccessible spot, in the middle of a forest, on a more or less remote lake island accessible by boat only – today via a system of small steamboats. This location, in defiance of both, an air of "enchantment" around it and the nearby chain of the Chiemgau Alps looming over and reflecting in the lake, may have been and may still be considered clearly less appealing than Neuschwanstein's more immediate, thus spectaculary impressive alpine backdrop near Füssen – not to speak of it having been perched right upon the blasted away tip of a steep rock and a quite intimidating gorge instead of a back yard. Not only the exterior, but also the interior at Herrenchiemsee were left even more unfinished than Neuschwanstein's. The latter's international popularisation, propelled by the inspiration Disney drew from it – say: "Cinderella Castle" – may only have added to the disproportonal attention the two venues enjoy with tourists.
  Also, seen from Munich, Linderhof is located in the same direction as and not very far away from Neuschwanstein, towards Tyrol and Swabia, so tourists often choose to visit both places within a day trip. Chiemsee with its islands lies on the way to Salzburg, i.e. almost in an opposite direction.
caption: Ludwig II by Gabriel Schachinger. The posthumously finished painting is based on the famous Portrait of Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud and is exhibited in the Palace
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