[HN Gopher] Germany's Fairytale Castles Added to UNESCO's World ...
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Germany's Fairytale Castles Added to UNESCO's World Heritage List
Author : ulrischa
Score : 71 points
Date : 2025-07-21 17:24 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.smithsonianmag.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.smithsonianmag.com)
| bee_rider wrote:
| It is sort of funny, these are essentially manors that were built
| to aesthetically evoke the vibes of castles (Not functional as
| fortifications, but also never intended to be). So, UNESCO is
| commemorating historical buildings that were themselves built to
| commemorate a long-gone era!
|
| Someday we will have to show these commemorations in a
| commemoration of the UNESCO headquarters.
| staplung wrote:
| A further irony for Neuschwanstein in particular is that in
| order to build an inauthentic Medieval- _looking_ castle, they
| had to completely destroy the ruins of two _actual_ Medieval
| castles.
| slg wrote:
| And Roman architecture was largely based on Greek architecture.
| This type of thing has been happening as long as humans have
| had historic cultures to emulate and commemorate.
| dboreham wrote:
| Similar in Scotland. The most photogenic castle (Eilean Donan)
| is a 19th C. reconstruction of a real but ruined castle.
| SEJeff wrote:
| Caerlaverock castle is pretty spectacular however when it
| comes to Scottish castles.
| masfuerte wrote:
| I got a similar vibe in Legoland, where they have a copy of the
| copy of the Eiffel tower in Vegas.
| GLdRH wrote:
| How is that different from a copy of the original Eiffel
| tower?
| pitpatagain wrote:
| It's inside of a reproduction of Las Vegas.
| benterix wrote:
| It's just begging to be reproduced someone else,
| unfortunately it would interfere with Disney's
| "intellectual property" then.
| moritzwarhier wrote:
| It's also funny that many Germans probably never heard of
| Neuschwanstein, let alone having visited it.
|
| But sure, that's to be expected and the "cultural heritage"
| designation is not a ranking of the most popular landmarks, for
| good reasons.
| kleiba wrote:
| _> It 's also funny that many Germans probably never heard of
| Neuschwanstein_
|
| I bet most will have, though.
| slater wrote:
| Yeah it's only one of the most famous castles in Germany,
| they likely haven't heard of it...
| moritzwarhier wrote:
| I was born in Germany, and while I have heard of it, I
| probably wouldn't have been able to tell where it is until
| my early twenties, or that it's even in Germany.
|
| In Western Germany, this never came up anywhere and it also
| wasn't a major part of history education or things like
| that.
|
| I've still never been there.
|
| And when the UNESCO thing came up, I had to refresh my
| knowledge to differentiate the French "Sun King" Louis from
| the Bavarian king who ordered the building of this castle.
|
| My first introduction to it was that it's a place where
| foreigners like to go and a popular tourist attraction.
|
| No sure why this incited so many downvotes, but nevermind.
|
| I think it's a common phenomenon with "trademark" things
| that countries are known for around the world.
|
| This is particularly extreme because it's very specific to
| Bavaria.
|
| There are many castles in Germany, most of them older than
| this famous one. Lots of castles in my vicinity too,
| although they're not as famous.
| technothrasher wrote:
| I got dragged to Neuschwanstein by my family, not knowing much
| about it. Well, it was a crowded and annoying tourist trap, and
| then I realized, "Wait, this is a fake castle made by a crazy
| dude?" I found my local fake castle made by a crazy dude more
| enjoyable (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammond_Castle).
| foobarian wrote:
| If you don't mind going to fake castles made by crazy dudes
| check out https://www.postojnska-jama.eu/en/predjama-castle/.
| This one even has a torture chamber!
| shrx wrote:
| What do you mean? This is very much a real castle.
| jcranmer wrote:
| No, it's not. A castle is a fortified place of residence,
| with heavy emphasis on the military needs in its
| architectural designs.
|
| Neuschwanstein was built in the 1880s, at which point any
| fortification that could have fulfilled its military role
| you would not want to live in, thanks to improvements in
| artillery. Castles are functionally obsolete around the
| 15th century, when gunpowder-based artillery became
| common and you needed substantial more earthworks and
| enveloping lines of fire rather than the straight curtain
| wall you see with castles.
|
| Neuschwanstein is instead a 19th-century version of the
| McMansion: it's a house (palace, really), built to
| (then-) modern standards that is dressed up to look like
| some sort of fancy architecture, in this case, a Medieval
| castle based not on historical research but in the
| (then-) modern pop culture version of it.
| andrewflnr wrote:
| They're referring to the castle linked in
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44639920, the
| comment they replied.
| 1234letshaveatw wrote:
| It was crowded when I visited but it is a very scenic spot. I
| would love to visit it again
| loevborg wrote:
| > "For our fairytale castles, a fairytale comes true," says
| Markus Soeder, a German politician representing Bavaria, in a
| statement shared with Reuters.
|
| Ah yes, a German politician representing Bavaria. Just like Gavin
| Nusom is an American politician representing Kalifornien.
| bee_rider wrote:
| Want to elaborate? That would be a totally fine way of
| describing Gavin Newsom other than the weird spelling.
| zdragnar wrote:
| Governors perform an executive function, and it's odd to
| describe "politician role" rather than just naming the role
| itself; governor for California, Minister or Minister-
| President for Bavaria.
|
| "Representing" to an American ear sounds more like a
| legislative role, and from what I can find of Bavaria, that
| is also wrong, with Minister-President being an executive and
| head of state figure.
| ascorbic wrote:
| I think they were for some reason complaining about Reuters
| not saying that he's Markus Soder, of Bayern.
| Izikiel43 wrote:
| > "Representing" to an American ear sounds more like a
| legislative role
|
| That's weird though, executive charges are elected
| representatives as well for the whole jurisdiction.
| Legislative charges are representatives of specific sub
| jurisdictions (counties at state level, states at the
| federal level)
| thyristan wrote:
| "Representing" is right, as head of the Bavarian state (not
| just the executive) he also represents Bavaria in the
| Bundesrat, which is the second chamber of the German
| parliament, and to the federal government and the other
| states ("Lander").
| bee_rider wrote:
| FWIW I am an American but I didn't assume it was a member
| of a legislative body. The guy is giving a quote so it
| seems clear that he's "representing" the region just in
| some general sense as a public official.
| GLdRH wrote:
| Markus Soder is from Franconia and not from Bavaria in the
| narrower sense. The comment still doesn't really make much
| sense.
|
| Also, why did he omit the Umlaut from Soder if he used it for
| Nusom?
| jcranmer wrote:
| I think the point is to criticize the press for using the
| English rendering on the names by referring to an American
| politician using a German rendering of the name.
| smcin wrote:
| This has all been too meta for my tiny brain.
| onetimeusename wrote:
| Maybe it's that German humor I hear about
| GLdRH wrote:
| It's no laughing matter
| jansan wrote:
| There are more castles in Germany (20,000 to 25,000) than
| McDonald's restaurants in the USA (13,500). From that
| perspective, McDonald's restaurants are more rare and therefore
| more in danger of extinction, so they should be put on UNESCO's
| World Heritage List, too.
| smnrchrds wrote:
| Wish we had done that with Pizza Hut locations.
| joules77 wrote:
| McDonalds just builds outlets in world heritage sites.
| bee_rider wrote:
| I don't think it is about danger of "extinction." But fast-food
| has been kind of a big deal for better or worse, so maybe it
| would be ok put a McDonalds on there?
|
| Note that this particular article is about fairytale castles,
| so not real castles, and a slightly more unique thing. But
| there are real forts and castles in the thing as well.
|
| We could possibly worry that fast food is not really worth
| commemorating. But then, historical forts and castles were
| sometimes put there for all sorts of nasty reasons, so I don't
| know what's disqualifying.
| fweimer wrote:
| I think that's the total number of castles built? The number
| that is around today is much smaller, even when including
| ruins.
| thrance wrote:
| Maybe the original one, once it goes out of business? But that
| would be a sad example of American "culture".
| Hikikomori wrote:
| What counts as a castle? If we go by pictures in the article
| any fancy old building fits. Much like palazzos on Italy.
| advisedwang wrote:
| McMansion Hell has an excellent post on Neuschwanstein:
| https://mcmansionhell.com/post/771073676232785920/on-neuschw...
| Animats wrote:
| Nice.
|
| Now that the thing is a big tourist attraction, it may be net
| profitable. Annual ticket sales are around EUR 25 million, and
| the castle is valued around US$ 122 million. That's not a bad
| ROI.
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