King Ludwig II of Bavaria was declared mad because he built “fairy tale” castles. His Neuschwanstein cost (inflation adjusted) 57 million Euros, and now brings in 100 million Euros per annum.
Those castles elevate mind and soul still. In the barren desert of 2026, Art and Beauty are rare…Instead, we look at grotesquely unsophisticated “functional“ buildings. It begs the question, who is crazy?
The movie Barry Lyndon came to my mind. It has excellent portrayals of authoritarian psychopaths from the 1700’s. Excellent movie too. (They don’t make em like that no more).
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand Walt Disney drew inspiration from King Ludwig II's castles for Disneyland. Maybe the good king was the Walt Disney of the nineteenth century.
He was a visionary. In the process he emptied the Bavaria treasury. He did install electric lights and indoor plumbing. I thought it was his accountant that was drowned in the lake with him. Anyway, Walt Disney loved his creation!
This article makes the case that art and beauty are essential in a mad world. I would add, as an artist, that the narcissistic BS that passes for culture these days is madness as well.
This is one crazy mental asylum we're all living in. But it's so easy to change it. But I don't think anyone wants to change. I don' hear anyone except a bare few who want change.
King Leopold's Ghost (1998) by Adam Hochschild is a non-fiction history book detailing the mass atrocities, forced labor, and systematic exploitation committed in the Congo Free State under the personal rule of King Leopold II of Belgium between 1885 and 1908. Under a false facade of philanthropy, Leopold extracted billions in wealth, resulting in an estimated 8 to 10 million Congolese deaths, before a heroic group of whistleblowers launched the first great human rights movement of the 20th century.
Part I: The Scramble and the Seizure
The Philanthropic Trick: In the late 19th century, King Leopold II used his personal wealth and diplomatic cunning to claim the Congo River basin—a territory 70 times the size of Belgium. He deceived Western nations by claiming his mission was purely humanitarian, scientific, and meant to abolish the East African slave trade.
Stanley’s Exploits: Leopold hired the famous, ruthless explorer Henry Morton Stanley to map the river, construct infrastructure, and trick local African chiefs into signing away their land rights via unfair treaties.
The Rubber Boom: Initially focused on ivory, Leopold’s greed skyrocketed with the invention of the inflatable rubber tire in the late 1880s. The global demand for wild rubber turned the Congo into a massive, highly lucrative corporate slave state.
The Stanley and Livingston myth was promoted by Hollywood with Spencer Tracy as the "Great Explorer" helped sell the grotesque myth of King Leopold as a 'humane gentleman'.[Who had the natives hands chopped off when failing to get their proper amount of liquid rubber].
"All's well that ends well" embezzle-cooks the books & is related to relativist "lesser of two evils" "rational"izations.
The old slave market in Charleston, SC is a few blocks south of King Street & that metaphor more fully & accurately accounts down to the net bottom line.
Neuschwanstein was one of the templated inspirations for the Disney Cinderella castles which also well contextualizes child hoods permanently sewn round so many heads.
(Read a headline describing that hood recently indicating Disneyland patrons are mostly "adults" these days.)
He was never mad for appreciating heavenly architectural beauty! Thankful he was & shared for generations to come❣️🙌🏽❤️🩹🙏🏼🕊️.
A creative visionary Michelangelo in architecture ❣️🕊️
Those castles elevate mind and soul still. In the barren desert of 2026, Art and Beauty are rare…Instead, we look at grotesquely unsophisticated “functional“ buildings. It begs the question, who is crazy?
A propos!
I'm just here to say that "The Mad King" by Edgar Rice Burroughs is one of the best novels ever written!
I am ready for som "fairy tale"!!! 🏰
ditto
The movie Barry Lyndon came to my mind. It has excellent portrayals of authoritarian psychopaths from the 1700’s. Excellent movie too. (They don’t make em like that no more).
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand Walt Disney drew inspiration from King Ludwig II's castles for Disneyland. Maybe the good king was the Walt Disney of the nineteenth century.
He was a visionary. In the process he emptied the Bavaria treasury. He did install electric lights and indoor plumbing. I thought it was his accountant that was drowned in the lake with him. Anyway, Walt Disney loved his creation!
This article makes the case that art and beauty are essential in a mad world. I would add, as an artist, that the narcissistic BS that passes for culture these days is madness as well.
"Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang-Castle" ;-) is nice to see from afar and interesting inside and close-up.
This is one crazy mental asylum we're all living in. But it's so easy to change it. But I don't think anyone wants to change. I don' hear anyone except a bare few who want change.
King Leopold II was a monster!
King Leopold's Ghost (1998) by Adam Hochschild is a non-fiction history book detailing the mass atrocities, forced labor, and systematic exploitation committed in the Congo Free State under the personal rule of King Leopold II of Belgium between 1885 and 1908. Under a false facade of philanthropy, Leopold extracted billions in wealth, resulting in an estimated 8 to 10 million Congolese deaths, before a heroic group of whistleblowers launched the first great human rights movement of the 20th century.
Part I: The Scramble and the Seizure
The Philanthropic Trick: In the late 19th century, King Leopold II used his personal wealth and diplomatic cunning to claim the Congo River basin—a territory 70 times the size of Belgium. He deceived Western nations by claiming his mission was purely humanitarian, scientific, and meant to abolish the East African slave trade.
Stanley’s Exploits: Leopold hired the famous, ruthless explorer Henry Morton Stanley to map the river, construct infrastructure, and trick local African chiefs into signing away their land rights via unfair treaties.
The Rubber Boom: Initially focused on ivory, Leopold’s greed skyrocketed with the invention of the inflatable rubber tire in the late 1880s. The global demand for wild rubber turned the Congo into a massive, highly lucrative corporate slave state.
The Stanley and Livingston myth was promoted by Hollywood with Spencer Tracy as the "Great Explorer" helped sell the grotesque myth of King Leopold as a 'humane gentleman'.[Who had the natives hands chopped off when failing to get their proper amount of liquid rubber].
We'll all be long gone, but it will be fun in 130 years when someone performs an inflation adjusted value of the Arc du Trumpumph in DC.
Whose 57-58 million euros did it cost?
How "it turned out" is irrelevant.
"All's well that ends well" embezzle-cooks the books & is related to relativist "lesser of two evils" "rational"izations.
The old slave market in Charleston, SC is a few blocks south of King Street & that metaphor more fully & accurately accounts down to the net bottom line.
Neuschwanstein was one of the templated inspirations for the Disney Cinderella castles which also well contextualizes child hoods permanently sewn round so many heads.
(Read a headline describing that hood recently indicating Disneyland patrons are mostly "adults" these days.)