14/09/2026
✨ The Kleine Galerie at the Neues Schloss Herrenchiemsee may be smaller than its spectacular counterpart, the Spiegelsaal (or Hall of Mirrors in English), but its story is just as fascinating. King Ludwig II had it modelled on the Petite Galerie at the Château de Versailles, a room that had already disappeared from the French palace by the time of the creation of its Bavarian imitation.
The gallery is a study in carefully orchestrated reflections: windows face mirrors, while mirrored panels multiply the light and create the impression of a much larger space. Polychrome stucco marble covers the walls, while the barrel-vaulted ceiling is richly decorated with ornamental bands, allegorical figures and mythological frescoes created by Wilhelm Rögge and Joseph Munsch.
👑 What makes the room particularly intriguing is that Ludwig II was not simply copying what he could still see at Versailles. Herrenchiemsee also recreated elements of Versailles that had already been lost, turning the Bavarian palace into an imagined version of Louis XIV’s world, assembled from surviving rooms, historical plans and the Bavarian Swan King's own vision.
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