Herrenchiemsee
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Herrenchiemsee is a complex of royal buildings on the Herreninsel, an island in the middle of Bavaria's largest lake, the Chiemsee, 60 km south east of Munich.
The Neues Palais ("New Palace") is the most famous of these buildings and it is the biggest of Ludwig II of Bavaria's castles. It is in a sense a monument to his adoration of Louis XIV. In the great hall of mirrors of the palace the ceiling is painted with 25 tableaux showing Louis XIV at his best. Very often texts call the Neues Palais Herremchiemsee, forgetting the other smaller buildings on the island.
The Neues Palais was designed by Christian Jank, Franz Seitz, and Georg Dollman and built between 1878 and 1885. It was to have been a full scale replica of the Palace of Versailles but only the central portion was built before the king died. 50 of the 70 rooms of the palace are still unfinished.
It was never meant to be a perfectly exact replica of Versailles. At several places it surpasses it. The great hall of mirrors for instance is bigger than its equivalent in Versailles, and the dining room has a huge chandelier of Meissen porcelain, which is the biggest in the world. The building also benefits from nearly two centuries of technological progress. The original Versailles palace did not have a single toilet. The only running water was outside in the fountains. King Ludwig's "copy" has a heated swimming pool built inside, in addition to numerous toilets.
The formal French gardens are filled with fountains and statues in a classical style typical of Versailles or in a fantastic style typical of romanticism which was often favored by king Ludwig. Cool maidens which look as if they have stepped out of a museum of classical antiquity are never too far from dragons, winged warriors, giant lizards and other extravagant beings which look as if they have stepped out of one of Richard Wagner's romantic operas.
Because it was built on an island, accessible only by a small ferry, Herrenchiemsee and the Neues palais are not as accessible and famous as Neuschwanstein castle, King Ludwig's other expensive extravagance.