Germany's Fairytale Castles Added to UNESCO's World Heritage List
smithsonianmag.com
smithsonianmag.com
Someday we will have to show these commemorations in a commemoration of the UNESCO headquarters.
Neuschwanstein was built in the 1880s, at which point any fortification that could have fulfilled its military role you would not want to live in, thanks to improvements in artillery. Castles are functionally obsolete around the 15th century, when gunpowder-based artillery became common and you needed substantial more earthworks and enveloping lines of fire rather than the straight curtain wall you see with castles.
Neuschwanstein is instead a 19th-century version of the McMansion: it's a house (palace, really), built to (then-) modern standards that is dressed up to look like some sort of fancy architecture, in this case, a Medieval castle based not on historical research but in the (then-) modern pop culture version of it.
They're in no short supply even today.
https://www.ctinsider.com/realestate/article/chris-mark-cast...
It has a moat and a dungeon in case anyone's interest.
But sure, that's to be expected and the "cultural heritage" designation is not a ranking of the most popular landmarks, for good reasons.
I bet most will have, though.
In Western Germany, this never came up anywhere and it also wasn't a major part of history education or things like that.
I've still never been there.
And when the UNESCO thing came up, I had to refresh my knowledge to differentiate the French "Sun King" Louis from the Bavarian king who ordered the building of this castle.
My first introduction to it was that it's a place where foreigners like to go and a popular tourist attraction.
No sure why this incited so many downvotes, but nevermind.
I think it's a common phenomenon with "trademark" things that countries are known for around the world.
This is particularly extreme because it's very specific to Bavaria.
There are many castles in Germany, most of them older than this famous one. Lots of castles in my vicinity too, although they're not as famous.
Now that the thing is a big tourist attraction, it may be net profitable. Annual ticket sales are around EUR 25 million, and the castle is valued around US$ 122 million. That's not a bad ROI.
Note that this particular article is about fairytale castles, so not real castles, and a slightly more unique thing. But there are real forts and castles in the thing as well.
We could possibly worry that fast food is not really worth commemorating. But then, historical forts and castles were sometimes put there for all sorts of nasty reasons, so I don’t know what’s disqualifying.
Ah yes, a German politician representing Bavaria. Just like Gavin Nüsom is an American politician representing Kalifornien.
"Representing" to an American ear sounds more like a legislative role, and from what I can find of Bavaria, that is also wrong, with Minister-President being an executive and head of state figure.
That's weird though, executive charges are elected representatives as well for the whole jurisdiction. Legislative charges are representatives of specific sub jurisdictions (counties at state level, states at the federal level)
Also, why did he omit the Umlaut from Söder if he used it for Nüsom?