德国巴伐利亚州林德霍夫宫

Linderhof is the smallest of the three fairy-tale palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, and the only one finished in his lifetime — the retreat where the reclusive “fairy-tale king” actually chose to live. Tucked into a wooded Alpine valley near Ettal and Oberammergau, it was built between 1872 and 1878 as a lavish royal villa in a highly ornate Neo-Rococo style, inspired by Ludwig’s idol Louis XIV of France and by his dreams of a vanished age of absolute monarchy. Small enough to feel like a private world, its gilded rooms open onto elaborate formal gardens and a park scattered with some of the most extraordinary garden buildings in Germany, from an artificial dripstone grotto to an exotic Moorish pavilion.

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The palace interior, seen on a short guided tour, is a riot of gold, mirrors and carving: the glittering Hall of Mirrors, the royal bedchamber, and the famous dining room with its “little table, lay yourself” — a table that could be lowered through the floor and raised again fully laid, so the solitary king need never see a servant. Even more theatrical are the park’s set-pieces. The Venus Grotto is a vast artificial cave built for Ludwig alone, complete with an underground lake, a golden shell boat and coloured electric lighting, inspired by a scene from Wagner’s Tannhäuser and among the technical marvels of its day. Nearby stands the gilded Moorish Kiosk with its peacock throne, bought from the Paris World’s Fair, along with a Moroccan house and rustic huts drawn from Wagner’s operas. Around the palace itself, terraced Baroque gardens step down to fountains — the great gilded jet before the palace shoots high into the air — while beyond them stretches a romantic English landscape park.

如何到达那里以及实用信息

Linderhof lies in the Graswang valley near Ettal, in the Bavarian Alps south of Oberammergau and roughly 100 kilometres south-west of Munich. There is no railway station nearby: most visitors come by car, or by a combination of train to Oberammergau (or Garmisch-Partenkirchen) and then a regional bus to the palace, so it pays to check bus times in advance. Admission to the park is free, while the palace is visited on a timed guided tour and is ticketed, with a combined ticket also covering the Venus Grotto; the palace is open daily year-round, though some of the park buildings, including the grotto, close over winter and have at times been shut for major restoration. Allow a couple of hours to combine the palace with a walk through the gardens and out to the grotto and kiosk, and note that the uphill paths in the park can be steep.