Location: 10 km (6 mi) South of Garmisch-Partenkirchen Map
Constructed: 1869- 1872 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria
Open: June- Oct
Entrance Fee: 4.50 Euro
Tel. (0 88 22) 92 03 0
King's House on Schachen (Königshaus am Schachen) is located 10 km (6 mi) South of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the state of Bavaria in Germany. King's House on Schachen hunting lodge was constructed in 1869- 1872 by the order of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and under supervision of architect Georg von Dollmann. King's House on Schachen is not easily accessed. You would have to hike for three to four hours either from Garmisch- Partenkirchen or from Elmau. The most magnificent room in King's House on Schachen is so called Turkish Room that takes a whole room on the upper floor of the residence. It contains beautiful windows, intricate textiles, colorful vases and other items associated with the exotic Moorish or Orient palace. Some believe that the construction of the mansion was influenced by king's fascination with stories of a Thousand and One Nights.
With its wooden shutters and art-sawn balcony railings, the royal house looks rather modest from the outside compared to other Ludwig buildings.
While the rooms clad with stone pine (living room, study, bedroom, toilet) on the ground floor are kept relatively simple, the upper floor is home to the Turkish Room, a state hall in the Moorish style that the king had designed based on the model of a palace in Eyup near Istanbul . Precious oriental splendor unfolds here; a fountain splashes, fine carpets cover the floor, gilded carvings, peacock feathers, luxurious divans, enameled vases, splendid chandeliers and colored glass windows create an atmosphere of the Arabian Nights in which the king could feel like sultan, sheikh and emir. Ludwig II spent his name and birthday several times in the royal house on the Schachen on August 25th. Today, on this occasion, every year loyalists, believers and hikers gather for a traditional mountain mass.
The former farm buildings are now a mountain hut, the Schachenhaus.
Below the castle there is a botanical alpine garden that was laid out in 1901. It is a branch of the Botanical Garden in Munich and contains over 1000 mountain plants from all mountains in the world, from the Alps to the Himalayas.
The castle can be
reached via a road from Schloss Elmau (closed forest path) - today
known as the Königsweg - on which King Ludwig II was driven up in a
horse-drawn carriage or sleigh Today the royal house can only be
reached by tourists on foot (approx. 3-4 hours walk).
About
halfway along the Königsweg between Schloss Elmau and the Königshaus
is the Wettersteinalm, and further up, 200 meters below the castle,
the Schachensee.
In his mountain retreats, including the royal family
at Schachen, Ludwig very rarely received visitors. However, when Felix
Dahn was in Partenkirchen in August or September 1873, the king invited
him. They had a political conversation that lasted almost six hours.
Ludwig's turning away from the world was even more evident in his
statements than in what he had written to Richard Wagner six years
earlier from the Altlacher Hochkopf (another refuge in the mountains).
He now expressed - at least according to Dahn's report - his dislike,
even his hatred, for almost all political figures in an extremely
passionate manner; the greatest (according to Dahn) was Ludwig's hatred
of Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, who later became Emperor Friedrich
III.
Hatred of the Bavarian and Munich politicians was largely
based on their opposition to Richard Wagner; among other things, these
circles had thwarted the plan for a festival theater on the high banks
of the Isar in Munich. "And now the master built the wooden shack in
Bayreuth with his own strength!"
About the farewell by Ludwig
("Live happy!"), Dahn writes that the king "received my harsh objection
to his favorite thoughts in a really royal way".