An Inspiring Discovery under a Cloudy Sky – The Votive Chapel on Lake Starnberg

King Ludwig II of Bavaria (Ludwig II. Otto Friedrich Wilhelm von Bayern) of the Wittelsbach dynasty, born in Munich in 1845, died in what has to be termed a mysterious death in 1886. He drowned in Lake Starnberg along with his medical council who accompanied him into this wet grave. 

With the loss of Bavaria’s sovereignty in the ‘German War’(1866) which the Prussians won, King Ludwig’s Bavaria did not only forfeit its sovereignty. Bavaria’s finances were ruined. The splendour loving king continued to build castles, supported Richard Wagner, his favourite composer (I added Wagner’s Siegfried idyll to the video) and paternal friend in buying up Wagner’s accumulated liabilities. The king also financed a lot of Wagner’s music.
And, of course, His Majesty lived a royal life.

His personal finances – although king with royal allowances – were a shambles. He continued to need money for his lifestyle and much more for his castle building hobby. With his personal funds evaporating, he spent the funds of Bavaria’s treasury. It was his as monarch, anyway.

Ludwig was fond of art and (Wagner’s) romantic music. Money was not his concern. It was, however, the Bavarian Council of Ministers’growing concern, however.
So, my suspicion is that after “diagnosing”the king’s insanity the members of the council tried to lock him up in various golden cages (there were lots). As this seemed a bit difficult and unpopular with his fan community (in fact, Bavarians love their fairytale king to this day).
So, guess what … To this day the Wittelsbach family refuses  having Ludwig’s and Bernhard von Gudden’s (medical council who drowned with him) coffins opened for pathological exam. 

Honni soit, qui mal y pense … tough luck, too, for the medical council who accompanied Ludwig on his last walk. To pacify Ludwig’s fans his mother Marie had this marvelous Votive Chapel built in memory of her son, the former king of Bavaria. I visited this magnificent monument on occasion of my visit to the Drinktec world class exhibition in Munich a few days ago. I owe the recommendation not to miss seeing the Votive Chapel to my friend of 60 years ago who lives near this chapel. It is marvelous and to me bears more resemblance to Byzantine ornamentation (I remember Hagia Sophia) than to Bavarian baroque. As the chapel is only open to public on Sundays and religious holidays, I could not enter on that Wednesday. Therefore, photos of the inside are ‘borrowed’ … thank you, Google and to the actual photographers.

… if you want more of ‚Siegfried Idyll’here is the file of the complete symphonic poem: