Upon the death of his father Maximilian II in 1864, Ludwig assumed the throne of Bavaria as Ludwig II. His first undertaking was to build a new knight's castle on the site of the ruins of Vorderhohschwangau, which later became Neuschwanstein Castle.

In addition to Neuschwanstein, Ludwig II also built a rococo summer palace - Linderhof in southwestern Bavaria (one of the three royal castles where the ruler lived for a long time) and the neo-Baroque palace of Herrenchiemsee, built on the model of the Paris Versailles (a palace located on the largest of the islands of Lake Chiemsee, the island of Herrenchiemsee).