Ludwig I of Bavaria: Art, Architecture, and Revolutions

[Music] king ludwig the first came to power in 1825 and would become a great patron of arts and architecture of all bavarian monarchs it is probably he used the largest mark on munich erecting churches monuments and museums to adorn his capital at the same time he carefully managed his state finances and initiated a number of projects that would enable bavaria's future economic growth but unlike his father maximilian who was widely loved by his people ludwig would be a far more controversial router beginning his reign as a supporter of liberalism he turned increasingly repressive and the scandalous love affair would badly damage his reputation [Music] ludwig was born in 1786 in strasbourg france and was named after his godfather king louis xvi his actual father maximilian would eventually become king of bavarian but was at this point still a fairly minor noble serving as an officer in the french army when the revolution broke out in 1789 the family was forced to flee strasbourg and would in the following years settle in a number of different places in germany in 1796 while staying in rohrbach castle near heidelberg ludwig's mother princess augusta villalmina of hesse dormstadt died of tuberculosis at the young age of 30. beginning that same year ludwig's upbringing was largely left in the hands of the catholic theologian joseph anton zambuga he instilled in him a strict sense of judy and also a strong belief in the divine right of kings something that would likely contribute to ludwig's later controversies as a ruler in 1799 his father inherited the electorate of bavaria and four years later ludwig began studying at the bavarian state university in lonset here as well as at the university of gutingen his political views continue to take shape and they became a supporter of both liberalism and german nationalism ludwig also studied ancient history and the languages of french italian spanish and eventually also russian between 1804 and 1805 he went on a customary trip to italy thereby completing his education later ludwig would recall there was there while viewing a sculpture of by antonio canova that his passion for art was awakened with the elevation of bavaria to the rank of kingdom on january 1 1806 ludwig became its first crown prince this elevation had been possible due to his father's alliance with napoleon something that ludwig a german patriot strongly opposed but despite his anti-napoleonic stance he had no choice but to join the emperor's wars and would lead bavarian troops into battle alongside the french [Music] the question of who ludwig was to marry had seemingly been decided already in 1799 as per a contract between bavaria and russia his future wife would be grand duchess catherine a daughter of emperor paul the first [Music] but as time went by this plan faced increasing opposition and was finally abandoned in 1808 against the will of ludwig this was not least because napoleon who at times considered marrying her himself was against it instead ludwig married princess therese of saxa hildeberghausen two years later on the 12th of october 1810 to celebrate this the citizens of munich were invited to attend festivities held outside the city gates a fairground was put up where visitors could find food wine and beer and a grand horse race was also held attracting some 40 000 spectators the event was so successful that the next year it was decided to be repeated now extended with a show to promote bavarian agriculture although the fair was cancelled due to war in 1813 it then continued to be held year after year this is the origin of the famous oktoberfest soon after the wedding ludwig was appointed governor general of what once been the prince archbishopric of salzburg the area had been secularized in 1803 after which should have spent a couple of years as a part of austria before being incorporated into bavaria in 1810 the newlywed couple therefore moved to salzburg and settled into mirabelle palace the lavish baroque residence of the old prince archbishops the next year in 1811 their first child and future king of bavaria maximilian was born in total they would have nine children ludwig and therese both enjoyed their time in salzburg and in the aftermath of the congress of vienna the prince tried in vain to lobby the austrian emperor to allow it to remain a part of bavaria but in 1816 and the territory was returned to austria and the couple would afterwards mainly reside in wurzburg ludwig also made numerous trips to italy and often stayed in the villa malta in rome which he eventually bought having served as governor ludwig still had no influence over national policy any attempts at intervening in the government were blocked by the count of montgolas the country's leading minister and his father's most trusted advisor montgoloss's pro-french policy made him a natural enemy of the crown prince who in cooperation with field marshal carl philip von breda finally succeeded in deposing the minister in february of 1817. with montgolas no longer able to block it a new liberal constitution was passed the following year the contents of which were strongly influenced by ludwig in 1825 king maximilian died and ludwig became enthroned as the next bavarian monarch still an ardent proponent of liberalism he soon lifted press censorship and tried to push through a program or reform aimed in various ways at simplifying the administration and introducing the concept of popular representation at the district level but when he tried to get his bills passed through parliament in 1827 they were faced with fierce opposition not least from liberal radicals who found them to be too moderate this experience would begin the process of disillusionment for the reform-loving king what decisively turned him down a more reactionary path however was the french july revolution of 1830 and the subsequent spread of this movement through europe fearful that revolution would reach his own country he reacted harshly when student riots broke out around christmas of 1830 closing down the university in munich and deporting foreign students a month later he reinstated censorship of the press and in the following years it would be further tightened [Music] in 1832 popular discontent manifested itself in the hambach festival officially a non-political county fair the event which attracted around 20 to 30 000 people from all parts of society was a demonstration in favor of german unity and democracy in its aftermath 142 political trials were initiated and seven death sentences were pronounced before being commuted to long-term imprisonment by the king in total around 1 000 political trials would be held during its reign in the latter part of the 1830s ludwig established a semi-absolutist style of government and was supported in this by the catholic ultramontenest faction which gained control over parliament under their rule bavaria's protestants began to be marginalized conversion to catholicism was promoted and holding protestant services was made complicated and restricted in 1838 the king personally issued an order for all military personnel to kneel in the presence of the blessed sacraments at corpus christi processions and the church services in doing so he was merely reinstating an old custom that had been abolished in 1803 but since then bavaria had acquired large protestant areas which made the decision very controversial finally in 1841 the funeral of the protestant queen caroline was conducted with so little royal dignity that it caused a scandal and demonstrations were held this treatment of his beloved stepmother permanently softened the this attitude towards protestants while these political controversies were playing out bavaria was being transformed in the center of culture ever since his time as crown prince ludwig had been a keen collector of art and sent his agents across europe to acquire all the masterpieces additionally he supported artists in the contemporary nasserine movement which aimed to revive spirituality in paintings seeing art primarily as an educator of the people he constructed a number of museums where his collections could be viewed by the public one of them the glibotic was commissioned already before he came to power and was made to house his impressive collection of ancient sculptures the neoclassical building would later be complemented by the state collections of antiquities facing it on the other side of the koenigs platz or king square [Music] the alta pinoccottiak a museum housing his painting collection is based on its design on the architecture of the italian renaissance when inaugurated in 1836 it was the largest museum in the world and despite being aesthetically inspired by history it was structurally very modern and would be emulated in future buildings the neue pinacotec which was later constructed next to it would serve as one of the world's first museums of contemporary art but was unfortunately lost in the second world war the new museums did much to put munich on the map but they were merely part of a greater plan to transform the city into a major european capital capable of rivaling even the likes of paris in its artistic achievements ludwig wants to explain this ambition as follows i want to transform munich into a city that honors germany so wholeheartedly that no one may claim to know germany until they've seen munich for nearly 40 years he would funnel state funds and virtually all of his private income towards this goal to realize it he employed the architects leo von clenser and friedrich von gatner who would reshape the city based mainly on the king's preferred models of periclean athens and renaissance florence a new city gate known as the propeller was built as a monumental entrance to the previously mentioned koenigsbats the sturdy structure is designed to evoke its ancient counterpart of the same name on the athenian acropolis the rumez hale or hall of fame is also based on greek precedent and originally housed 74 busts of notable individuals from bavaria's history the number has since been expanded the city's grandest boulevard was also commissioned by the king and named the ludwigstrasse after him it was intended to be used for great public events like parades and funeral possessions and the buildings lining it to where to symbolize the pillars of the bavarian nation the boulevard begins at the odeon spots in the old city and here the field marshals hall was built to designs by gatner from there it runs in a straight line for a kilometer terminating at the neoclassical siges tour or victory gate together these buildings honor the bavarian army the catholic church was represented by the ludwig scarecrow built from 1829 to 44 as one of the earliest examples of the lundbergen steel this type of architecture combined elements from a number of historical eras and was intended as uniquely contemporary and a german style the decoration of its interior was left to peter von cornelius one of the main representatives of the nazarene movement science was also represented at the ludwig strasse in the bavarian state university in which the king had moved here from lancet additionally the bavarian state library was accommodated in a new brick structure harkening back to the early italian renaissance the munich residence bavaria's royal palace also received a major overhaul leo von clenser was instructed to extend the structure on the southern side adding the koenigsbao or king's building on its first floor are five halls filled with scenes from the nibelungen lead written down in the 13th century this work was seen as the epitome of german epic poetry which was why the king wanted the halls to be accessible to the public right from the start meanwhile another ground extension was being put up on the north side of the residence the fist solbao or banqueting hall wing was also designed by clense and stretches 250 meters long many of its interiors were never restored after world war ii but it would once have contained the grand throne room where a ceremony stacked the accession to the throne would have taken place the small throne room located in the koenigsbauer still exists however [Music] ludwig's building spree was not limited to the capital and they also erected a number of impressive monuments in the bavarian countryside most famous of these is probably the valhalla monument although named after odin's hull in norse mythology the building is an example of the greek revival style located in a dominant position high above the danube it is modeled after the parthenon in athens and serves as a memorial to the great politicians sovereigns scientists and artists of the german tongue on the inside are 65 plaques and 130 busts covering notable people over 2 000 years of history going all the way back to arminius ludwig himself can be found here as a large statue was added in his honor 22 years after his death built from 1830 to 1842 the valhalla was the precursor to the rumez hale in munich [Music] his other great rural monument was the befriend the hall of liberation located on top of a hill the structure commemorates battles won against napoleon and the liberation of germany from french rule the circular building is 29 meters wide and 45 meters tall with an interior illuminated by innocus decorated with plaques and memorial inscriptions the hull is surrounded by 34 statues of the goddess of victory sculptures can also be found on the exterior representing the different regions of germany 18 in number the colossal statues are nearly six meters tall each the king also erected the villa ludwigser as a summer residence for himself located at the edge of the palatine forest in bavaria's rhine district he would live here every two years in the latter part of his life another of ludwig's villas was by contrast not actually meant to be lived in the pompeonum was constructed as a replica of a roman townhouse found in pompeii and would help art lovers in germany to study ancient culture being well disposed towards the church ludwig was restored many of the monasteries that had been shot down by his father and even founded new ones furthermore he supported the restoration and completion of a number of cathedrals amazingly ludwig achieved all of this without bankrupting his kingdom in fact during its reign bavaria's finances were in better shape than at any point in the past 150 years this was largely thanks to its rigorous restriction of expenditure as crown prince ludwig had systematically prepared himself for managing the economy and with a rare consistency with the plans he developed into practice after coming to power he took great care to streamline the administration reserving the appointment of all civil servants to himself the greatest saving measures however were made in military spending this was possible because ludwig had confidence in the stability of the german confederation of which bavaria was a member he also didn't have any ambitious foreign policy and even if that had been the case the medium-sized states in the confederation were extremely limited in what they could do there was one major exception to this rule though ludwig was a phil helene in other words an admirer of greece and passionately supported the greek struggle for independence already before becoming king he tried to organize financial support for the freedom fighters and provided a large loan to them in 1821 having come to power he continued to support the movement providing funds and allowing bavarian officers to take part in the war largely because of these efforts his son otto was selected as king of greece by the european great powers in 1832 another result of his fill hellonism was that the name bavaria which had previously been spelt bayern with an eye came to be spelled with a greek derived letter y instead ludwig also reintroduced the traditional names of the various regions which had simply been named after rivers by his father for example the isar districts now became upper bavaria once again in order to promote the integration of territories which had only recently been added to bavaria he also changed his royal title from merely king of bavaria to king of bavaria duke of franconia duke in and count palatine of the rhine these titles would be kept by his successors and a new bavarian court of arms was adopted to reflect this change in many respects romantic ludwig had strong reservations about the looming industrial revolution he tended to put special emphasis on farming setting up regional and national exhibitions to promote handicrafts and agriculture nonetheless important steps were also taken that would allow the industrialization and economic growth of bavaria on his initiative the south german customs union was formed together with the kingdom of wurttemberg in 1829 and five years later he joined the german customs union the king also promoted railway construction and in 1835 the first german railway for passenger traffic was opened running between the bavarian cities of nuremberg and feud another of his infrastructure projects was the ludwig canal which was finished in 1846 and connected the danube with the mayan river in the rhine district he even founded a new city ludwigshafen which was meant to travel manheim across the border on the opposite side of the rhine [Music] ludwig's reign would come to an end in the fateful year of 1848 as the revolution once again swept across europe like in many countries protests and demonstrations were held demanding a more free and democratic society but in the case of bavaria they were triggered by a scandalous love affair two years earlier a young irish dancer and actress called lola montes had arrived in munich having had an audience with the king the two soon became lovers ludwig had taken on several mistresses before without controversy but this time it was different lola's arrogant manner and the fact that she managed to exert large political influence made her deeply unpopular among many bavarians they were therefore outraged when ludwig tried to elevate her to the rank of countess and the maker unnaturalized bavarian citizen prime minister carl von abel refused to allow this but was simply forced to resign by the king subsequently she was made countless of lunsfeld and also given a large annuity as well as a luxurious villa in munich [Music] ludwig reacted with extreme harshness to anyone who dared criticize her he dismissed leading professors at the university and when students expressed their displeasure in demonstrations he temporarily closed it down and ordered all of them to leave the city within three days however this merely made the general population many of whom were financially dependent on the affluent students to join the protests and together they pressured the king to reopen the university and to banish lola montes on the 11th of february 1848 but just as the mood was beginning to calm down king louis philippe of france was overthrown and a revolutionary mood once again swept over munich on march 4th the city's armory was stormed and an angry mob equipped with weapons marched towards the royal residence their demands included freedom of the press transparent court proceedings increased popular representation and that the military would swear their allegiance to the constitution they were greeted by the king's brother field marshal carl theodore who encouraged calm the king himself promised new elections and after free beer had been served the crowd dissolved peacefully under pressure from his ministers and family ludwig made the so-called march proclamation two days later whereby he promised considerable concessions and reforms following this public opinion turn in favor of the monarch but on the 16th of march lola montes returned to munich despite having been exiled sparking renewed unrest on the 17th ludwig had no choice but to later be searched by the police humiliated and unwilling to reign as a true constitutional monarch ludwig abdicated three days later in favor of his son maximilian the former king would live for another 20 years and remained an influential figure in bavaria during this time he continued to promote the arts and completed many building projects that had been begun during his reign his primary residence was the neo-gothic wittelsbacher palais in munich of which he was not particularly fond in private life he was despite his royal assertiveness quite modest and amicable ludwig was even known for his often shabby attire a result of his restrained spending he also had an eccentric side and was a notoriously bad poet he would write about anything no matter how trivial and was teased by other poets for his unsophisticated style in 1867 he went to see the paris world exposition together with his grandson king ludwig ii he then spent the winter of that year in a villa that he rented in nice on the french riviera by this time he was suffering from swollen legs and feet and had difficulty breathing in february the next year he drew his last breath having lived to the age of 81. ludwig's two surviving sons lloydpold and odelbert had been notified about his condition by a telegraph and whereby signed in his last hours according to his wishes ludwig was buried in saint boniface a benedictine monastery that he founded on the outskirts of munich [Music]

Channel: Kings and Things

Views: 77,555

Keywords: 19th century, 1800s, Louis XVI, French Revolution, Napoleon, Paul I of Russia, Russian Empire, Monarchy, King, Queen, Ruler, Germany, Bavaria, Austria, German History, Austrian Empire, Salzburg, Royal Palaces, Royal Castles, Royalty, Princess, Prince, Classical Architecture, Museum, Building Projects, Megaprojects, Infrastructure Projects

Id: pvDns0sxQCk

Length: 23min 44sec (1424 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 01 2021