If you were given the job to

Property Manage
Neuschwanstein Castle,
could you keep the fairy tale
alive?
This article will give an overview of what heritage management is and
its application at Neuschwanstein Castle in the state of Bavaria in
Germany. It will provide an outline of the management structure, its
stakeholders and how the management is funded and last but not least
the role a heritage manager plays. Furthermore, it will discuss the role
of a Heritage Management Plan and how the castles property
management balances the positive and negative effects of tourism. In
addition to this, detail other challenges of heritage architecture that
this cultural icon with more than 1.5 million visitors every year faces
(Mau 2014). We did this by posing some questions to the
management of Neuschwanstein Castle, which will be detailed in
questions and answer format, and the areas addressed in terms of
heritage management related to the areas discussed above.

To begin we need to learn about Neuschwanstein Castle and have a

brief understating of what heritage management is. Although most
people probably havent ever heard the name, Neuschwanstein Castle
is easily the worlds most recognisablemedieval-style castle - since it
was the model for Disney's iconic Cinderella castle. The
extraordinarily growing visitor numbers in the past few years have
cemented it as a high-profile monumental heritage building in
Germany.

Although it was built in the romantic style of the 13th century, as

imagined by fairytale Bavarian King Ludwig II, it is actually a late
building with the laying of the foundation stone only happening in
1869, long after the age of traditional medieval-style castles.,King
Ludwig II had his head in the clouds and was far from a contemporary
monarch. The large debt he incurred funding the building of fairy tale
castles led to him being declared legally incapable to reign the
country. Neuschwanstein Castle itself is a one-of-a-kind example of
architecture for representative reason, not having any practical
purpose. Therefore, the castle opened its doors to the general public
for the first time on the 1st of August, 1886. Since that time it was
blessed with steadily growing visitor numbers which reached more
than 1.5 million in 2013 (Mau 2014).

The property management of a building with such cultural

importance is vital not only for purely cultural reasons but also
economic ones. To manage cultural heritages property management
has evolved a specialised branch called heritage management.

This specialised area is defined and summarised by Ricardo Elia and

Marta E Ostovichas as a growing field that is concerned with the
identification, protection, and stewardship of cultural heritage in the
public interest (Oxford Bibliographies 2014) and this includes the
management of Neuschwanstein Castle as many governments and
societies include buildings as heritage as argued by Howard and
Ashworth (1999). This specialisation is important because different
properties face different changes and therefore have various
management needs. The role that property managers play is to meet
these needs and challenges.

We have posed the Property Management Team of Neuschwanstein

Castle some specific questions in order to find out more about the
management of the castle and to see what we could learn from it.

The questions and answers cover a broad range from the general
management structure over how actions regarding the maintenance of
the castle are funded, to distinct issues the castles management is
facing.

The initial question we asked was about the castles property

management in general, who is it and how long has the castle been
managed by this management?

The castle has been administrated by our management agency since

the very beginning, its actually a government owned agency! During
construction and in the time of the monarchal regency it was named
the Royal Administration, now known as Bavarian administration of
national castles, gardens and lakes(Mau 2014). This illustrates that
government agencies play an important role in managing cultural
heritage, in effect they are the property managers.

Some further questions about employees and budget included: How

many employees are working for the management company and how
many of them are exclusively taking care of Neuschwanstein Castle,
and how big is the annual budget?
Besides permanent employees there are several seasonal workers at
Neuschwanstein Castle who support the main team during peak
season especially in terms of guided tours. More specific details of
employees and their functions are subject to protection of data
privacy (Mau 2014).

How is the budget put together (government share, private investors,

donations, self-generated income of the castle)?

General allocation of the Bavarian Administration of National

Castles, Gardens and Lakes: self-generated income (ticket sales;
income from rent; souvenir sales; licenses; contributions; revenue
from agriculture and forestry, gardening, hunting, fishing, operation
of horse buggies), public funds (Free State of Bavaria), subsidies from
municipalities e.g. for surface construction, (Mau 2014).

By what means does Neuschwanstein castle generate proper income

(ticket sales, events, licences etc.)?

In fact, there is no proper income of the castle since it is part of the

Bavarian administration of national castles, gardens and lakes, as
mentioned before. The Neuschwanstein Castle generates revenue
through ticket sales, licenses for the operation of horse buggies,
souvenir sales etc. Also film/performing and image rights are liable to
pay costs, (Mau 2014).

This has been the traditional way Neuschwanstein Castle has been
funded, however there have been moves from governments to step
away from this method. As traditionally but not in all cases there has
been inadequate funding for World Heritage sites as noted by Leask
and Fyall (2003). They put forward that there has been a move away
from reliance on government and more importance placed on other
groups for profit from non detrimental use of sites for revenue
generation. This includes things like simple marketing alliances to
strategic partnerships with government. In the case of
Neuschwanstein Castle with more than 1.5 million visitors per year,
there may be or there may be not be enough revenue to self-fund the
effective management but as Leask and Fyall (2003) point out,
partnership with business is an effective method to fund heritage
management.

Which challenges is the property management company of

Neuschwanstein Castle facing in day-to-day business (maintenance;
restoration; security measures; official stipulations; cooperation with
affiliated service providers such as coachmen, hostelries, souvenir
shops; marketing and PR etc.)?

The on-site administration takes care of the operating service,

visitors assistance, management services, daily maintenance and
restoration, complying to fire safety specifications, general safety
(property and visitors) etc.

Other functions are being served by the main administration of the

Bavarian Administration of National Castles, Gardens and Lakes. For
instance:

maintenance of architectural heritage fabrics of buildings in areas

susceptible for weather conditions (preservation of historical
monuments, matters of structural engineering, etc.) Difficulties come
along with the high number of visitors (impact on indoor climate,
preservation, logistics issues arising from the ticket queue up to an
appropriate supply of public restrooms), mustering of monument
conservation, modern/contemporary usage of the monument and
preservation of the building fabric, especially in the light of the
topographic areas susceptible to weather conditions, (Mau 2014).

Are there any long-term challenges with regards to securing funds for
future maintenance - projects and in general; matters concerning the
geographic location such as landslides, subsidence of surface, wild
animals etc.; and difficulties in compliance of preservation order
regulations?

All of this must be taken care of and must be constantly monitored.

Conservation/preservation of buildings and antique artwork are highly
important, (Mau 2014).

Do any long-term plans exist for Neuschwanstein Castle

(construction of new/additional buildings at the castle itself or on the
site; arrangement of special events; national and international
commercialisation)?

According to the spirit of cultural heritage preservation there are no

planned new constructions. Regarding commercialisation,
Neuschwanstein Castle sells itself, our number of visitors pushes the
castle to its upper load limits, (Mau 2014).

The structured and organised planning of heritage sites has become a

vital tool of the before mentioned World Heritage System. When it
comes to a proper and well-structured plan on how to maintain and
administer heritage sites (buildings) it is inevitable to adapt an
Heritage Management Plan (HMP) as advised by the UNESCO
(Managing Cultural World Heritage 2013). As stated in the handbook
Management Plans for World Heritage Sites, A management plan for
a World Heritage site is an integrated planning and action concept that
lays down goals and measures for the protection, conservation, use
and development of World Heritage sites. (2008, p. 8). Heritage
Management Plans are designed to facilitate the following actions:
overall assessment of the property specifically with respect to the
conditional exemption undertakings; agreed statement of the
significance of the property; agreed approaches and actions to
maintain the outstanding importance of the property; cost-effective
solutions to long-term management liabilities via strategic work
programmes; a clear system for monitoring and review; cross-
compliance for other estate plans; common understanding between
owners, HM Revenue & Customs and the advisory Agencies that is a
helpful basis for periodic, usually 5-yearly (quinquennial) inspections;
and an agreed framework for applications for grant-aid and/or
development proposals. (Preparing a Heritage Management Plan
2008).

Even if not on the World Heritage List (UNESCO 2014), the

principles of an HMP can be exercised on Neuschwanstein Castle.
Considering the castle sites magnitude and against the backdrop of
the continuously rising number of visitors it becomes even more
important to apply a more formal management planning process
(Clark 2001), especially when the site is accountable for public funds
or have to deal with issues of public interest (Clark 2001). So it is not
only about the stampede of visitors the castle has to handle but also
affairs which came into the limelight, like the recent fraud scandal
Neuschwanstein Castle has to face at the moment and which is spread
through media all over the world (Chambers 2014).
While there are no other big long-term goals or plans other than
maintaining the castle and preserving its building fabric, it might be
apposite to refer to the aforementioned argument, the stampede of
visitors. If this keeps continuing, the situation may drifts towards
highly controversial solutions like the restricted access to heritage
monuments like the Alhambra in Granada, Spain or the Vermilion
Cliffs National Monument in Arizona, USA. At those sites you have
to pre-register for tickets and access-dates a long time before you
actually can visit, which makes the planning process for visitors
unpredictable or even worse, jeopardising it.

In summary, Neuschwanstein Castles management was discovered to

be managed and financed by the government-owned Bavarian
Administration of National Castles, Gardens and Lakes it is not only
dependent on the self-generated income from the tourism industry but
all the more it has to manage an ever-rising number of visitors and as
well the aforementioned obstacles of state cronyism. Its important to
note, whoever is running the management of Neuschwanstein Castle,
be that government or purely private enterprise, that there needs to be
a Heritage Management Plan in place.

Neuschwanstein Castle is one example of the challenging task many

heritage sites are facing: A fine balance has to be achieved between
the trade off of conservation in favor of tourism and on the other hand
restrictions have to be placed on tourism numbers and access in order
to protect the cultural values of the site (McKerchner & Du Cros
2002). The role of the management is multifaceted and broad, having
to find balance between all of the areas involved is very difficult.
However with the correct knowledge, planning and management the
continuity and future of Neuschwanstein Castle, translated as New
Swan Stone Castle, is assured and will keep the fairy tale alive.

Kristijan Gjikoski & Marc Grabiger Deakin University 2014