Hohenzollern Castle
Hohenzollern Castle is a hilltop castle located on the Berg Hohenzollern, an isolated promontory of the Swabian Jura (NHN) above sea level, above and to the south of Hechingen, Germany approximately south of Stuttgart, capital of Baden-Württemberg. This mountain lends its name to the local geographic region, "der Zollernalbkreis", and is known among locals as "Zollerberg" (Zoller Mountain), or simply "Zoller".
Neuschwanstein Castle
In the 19th century, many castles were constructed or reconstructed, often with significant changes to make them more picturesque. Palace-building projects similar to Neuschwanstein had been undertaken earlier in several of the German states and included Hohenschwangau Castle, Lichtenstein Castle, Hohenzollern Castle, and numerous buildings on the River Rhine such as Stolzenfels Castle. The inspiration for the construction of Neuschwanstein came from two journeys in 1867 — one in May to the reconstructed Wartburg near Eisenach, another in July to the Château de Pierrefonds, which Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was transforming from a ruined castle into a historistic palace.