Ludwig already knew the area around Linderhof from his youth when he had accompanied his father King Maximilian II of Bavaria on his hunting trips in the Bavarian Alps.

At the same time three new rooms and the staircase were added to the remaining U-shaped complex, and the previous wooden exterior was clad with stone façades.

[1] Although Linderhof is much smaller than Versailles, it is evident that the palace of the French Sun-King Louis XIV (who was an idol for Ludwig) was its inspiration.

[citation needed] Stylistically, however, the building and its decor take their cues from the mid-18th century Rococo of Louis XV, and the small palace in the Graswang valley was more directly based on that king's Petit Trianon on the Versailles grounds.

[2] The symbol of the sun that can be found everywhere in the decoration of the rooms represents the French notion of absolutism that, for Ludwig, was the perfect incorporation of his ideal of a God-given monarchy with total royal power.

The bedroom was important to the ceremonial life of an absolute monarch; Louis XIV of France used to give his first (lever) and last audience (coucher) of the day in his bedchamber.

By facing north, however, the Linderhof bedroom inverts the symbolism of its Versailles counterpart, showing Ludwig's self-image as a "Night-King", because he had gotten into the habit of turning night into day and vice versa.

Because Ludwig II used to sleep in the daytime and stay awake in the night, the mirrors created an effect for him when they reflected the light of the candles.

Appointments: The middle table has a top with lapis-lazuli, amethyst and chalcedony inlay work and shows the Bavarian coat of arms in glass mosaic.

Appointments: Two round tables with malachite tops, gift of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia to King Ludwig II.

Yet the staff had to lay the table for at least four persons because it is said that the king used to talk to imaginary people like Louis XV, Mme de Pompadour or Marie Antoinette while he was eating.

The position of the bed itself on steps in the alcove that is closed off by a gilded balustrade, like the baroque Munich model, gives it the appearance of an altar and thereby glorifies Ludwig II as he slept during the day.

The king was very well read about the legends and mythologies of the Middle Ages as well as about court life and the arts in the era of Louis XIV.

[3] The palace is surrounded by formal gardens that are subdivided into five sections that are decorated with allegoric sculptures of the continents, the seasons and the elements: The northern part is characterized by a cascade of thirty marble steps.

The water parterre in front of the palace is dominated by a large basin with the gilt fountain group "Flora and puttos".

These gardens are crowned by a round temple with a statue of Venus formed after a painting by Antoine Watteau (The Embarkation for Cythera).

In keeping with the theme, the painting by August von Heckel in the background of the main grotto depicts “Tannhäuser with Frau Venus”.

It is an iron construction whose partition walls were covered with impregnated canvas, which in turn was sprayed with a cement mixture from which the artificially created stalactites are made.

A rainbow projection device and a wave machine completed the illusion as the king was rowed around on the artificial lake while musicians played motifs from Tannhäuser.

Therefore, 24 dynamo generators powered by a steam engine, had been installed by Johann Sigmund Schuckert in 1878 and so already in the time of Ludwig II it was possible to illuminate the grotto in changing colours.

[citation needed] The grotto is closed to visitors through 2024 for reconstruction and restoration, as the moisture-sensitive construction on a mountain slope was significantly damaged by rain and meltwater.

[5] From the outside, a simple wooden house with walls made of uniform, peeled tree trunks, the interior was inspired by Richard Wagner's directions for the First Act of the Die Walküre and a corresponding stage design by Josef Hoffman from 1876.

[6] The small wooden building is inspired by Wagner's opera Parsifal, where in the Third Act Gurnemanz, a knight of the Holy Grail, is living alone as a hermit in the forest.

In order to reflect the uplifting mood of the third act, the king really wanted to have a flower meadow around the hut on Good Friday.

[citation needed] These three structures, the "Venus Grotto", "Hunding's Hut" and "Gurnemanz Hermitage" remind us another time of the operas of Richard Wagner.