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[ymutate]

The Temple of the Warriors and the Orion Constellation. Chichen Itza, Yucatan.

www.ancient-origins.net

[nature-travel-photography]

Monastery of Rousanou in Meteora, Greece 🇬🇷 - Author: AngelAwake

[allthingseurope]

Tallinn, Estonia (by Hert Niks)

[playwrongs]

In King Ludwig II’s defense, if I had basically infinite discretionary funds, was accountable to absolutely no one, and was king of a country full of picturesque landscapes, you couldn’t stop me from building myself a big gay fairytale castle on a mountaintop either.

[playwrongs]

This post is spreading and I feel bad about it because it contains misinformation, so for the record: Ludwig II did not in fact have infinite discretionary funds. He only acted as if he did. He never dipped into the public coffers for his building projects, but he spent his own fortune extravagantly and borrowed heavily from everyone he could think of. By 1885, the year before his death, he was 14 million marks in debt.

[insomniac-arrest]

~ ✨✨ 14 million marks in debt ✨✨~

[centrally-unplanned]

I always find this inspiring because try to name another prince of a German state. What did the rulers of Hamberg do? The Grand Duchy of Hesse? Gone with the wind, no one knows them anymore. But Mad Lad Ludwig built a top 5 most famous castle in the entire world. Money is fake, castles are real. Go broke and die like a winner.

[the-barefoot-hatter]

EXCUSE ME, this is still wrong. He built 3.

Neuschwanstein, literally the inspo for the castles in Disney's Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella

Hohenschwangau, the practical castle

Linderhof, the final, the smallest, and the MOST fab.

Every room is incredible and the park is beautiful, but shoutout to The Bedroom, the biggest room

The Hall of Mirrors, which he probably wandered by candle light because he was a serious night owl

The Dining Room, with a wishing table that lowers to the kitchen, and rises with a crank, returning magically full of food

The Venus Grotto, constructed for the sole use of Ludwig to larp to his heart's content

A full artificial cave, it features a waterfall, fake stalactites, and a custom-designed swan boat floating on an artificial lake. The first electricity in Bavaria was generated here, to change the colors of the stage lights and to power Ludwig's fountain and wave machine.

Now THAT'S ~ ✨✨ 14 million marks in debt ✨✨~

[marzipanandminutiae]

I love that- and I cannot emphasize this enough -none of this was tax money

the public paid for zero of his fairytale castle hobby

rare European monarch W as far as spending money lavishly goes

[389]

Strasbourg Cathedral

[allthingseurope]

Dessau, Germany (by milanicon)

[allthingseurope]

Castle Combe, England (by George Ciobra)

[fungusqueen]

Moss Cove in Laguna Beach at low tide, with gorgeous tide pools to explore

[zombilenium]

Dimitri Bourriau Photography

[muzantropic]

Floating church VINETA on Störmthaler See, Germany

[scavengedluxury]

Monument to the Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlachtdenkmal), Leipzig, 1937. From the Budapest Municipal Photography Company archive.

[theknitpotato-deactivated202505]

In 1850, a farmer found a secret village. It was later determined to be older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Archeologists estimated that 100 people lived in this village named Skara Brae, the "Scottish Pompeii." The houses were connected to each other by tunnels, and each house could be closed off with a stone door.

[oflline]

[classicalbritain]

Stourhead

[richwall101]

The Temple of Apollo in the National Trust grounds at Stourhead in Wiltshire UK…

[mysticplaces]

Roden Crater | Painted Desert, Arizona

“My desire is to set up a situation to which I take you and let you see. It becomes your experience.” - James Turrell

[victusinveritas]

Meet Pando, not a forest but a single tree. Every trunk of the Quaking Aspen is genetically identical & connected by a single 80,000 year old root system, making it one of the largest and oldest living entities on Earth!

[jayxenos]

Devil’s Bridge, Worm’s Head island, Rhossili, Wales by Deborah Smith

[kafkasdiariies]

Courtyard in Budapest, Hungary | Tomislav Marcijuš