The Bavarian King Ludwig II built Linderhof Castle by the example of the French Versailles in the place of his father Maximilian II’s hunting residence. The construction was completed in 1878. Now the castle is annually visited by about half a million visitors! Linderhof’s interior is decorated in the late Rococo style. Twelve rooms contain a lot of mirrors, velvet, lapis lazuli, malachite and gold. The park around the castle is also impressive with cascading fountains, Moorish kiosk, Moroccan house and hut based on the "Ring des Nibelungen".
The park’s largest fountain “shoots” the stream of water to a height of 22 meters! The 300-year-old lime tree breaks the rigor of the garden’s geometric pattern. The tree has been preserved by the order of the king. The most unusual building in the park is the artificial grotto of Venus with a lake and a waterfall themed on Wagner's Tannhauser. Inside the grotto there is a stage with an electric lighting system, which was a novelty at that time. Opera singers performed on the stage and Ludwig II was the only spectator listening them from a seashell-shaped boat.