Which king commissioned the construction of Neuschwanstein Castle?

King Ludwig II of Bavaria commissioned the construction of Neuschwanstein Castle. He envisioned it as a private retreat in the Bavarian Alps and as a monument inspired by medieval legends and the operas of Richard Wagner.

Ludwig commissioned initial designs in 1868, and construction began on September 5, 1869. The project grew into a grand Neo-Romanesque palace above Hohenschwangau, near the Austrian border. Stage designer Christian Jank created influential early concepts, while architect Eduard Riedel translated them into building plans.

Despite its castle-like appearance, Neuschwanstein was a 19th-century historicist creation rather than a surviving medieval fortress. Ludwig paid for it from his private revenues and borrowed funds, not from ordinary Bavarian state finances. He died in 1886 before the palace was finished, and it opened to the public soon afterward. A common mix-up is attributing it to Ludwig I; the patron was his grandson, Ludwig II.