Neuschwanstein Castle was built for the Bavarian king Ludwig II (1845 –1886); it was begun in 1868 but never fully completed. The king saw his castle as a monument to the culture and concept of monarchy prevailing in the Middle Ages, which he greatly admired and wanted to recreate. Built and furnished in medieval styles but equipped with the latest technology of the day, it is the most famous historicist building in the world and thus the best example of the unmistakably individualistic achievements of 19th-century art. Ludwig II’s buildings were to a large extent his own creation. They were what he lived for and are his life’s work.