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Monday, Dec. 23, 2013 | 1:33 p.m.
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Posted: 5:39 a.m. Monday, Dec. 23, 2013
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Thanks to the Buckhead Ritz-Carlton, you can visit a castle without leaving town.
An exacting replica of Bavaria’s famed Neuschwanstein Castle, complete with working trains and ski lift, is on display on the hotel’s main level, just off the lobby, through Jan. 2. It’s an annual tradition.
“Five years ago my boss asked me to create something for Christmas to display in our lobby,” Andrew Smulski, the hotel’s chief engineer, told us. “On my way home I started thinking about a replica of a real castle.”
After much research he decided on Neuschwanstein, which is said to be the inspiration for Disneyland’s Cinderella castle. It was commissioned by Kind Ludwig II of Bavaria in the 1800’s, and is located near the birthplace of Cesar Ritz, who was 19 at the time of the castle’s completion, according to the hotel’s history of the piece.
“Each door, window, archway and railing spindle of the hotel’s castle was cut, applied and finished by hand, including the painstaking creation and application of 1,200 individual roof shingles,” according to information provided by the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. “The castle is set upon a mountain made of 22 layers of rigid foam, which were sculpted with Japanese carving tools, then sanded and painted. As the finishing touch, 10 bags of Spanish moss, 50 pounds of decorative landscape rocks and 100 feet of cotton batting were added. The scenery surrounding the mountain consists of more than 120 trees of different sizes, two bridges, two tunnels, seven houses and charming village scenes. Two trains traverse the landscape on more than 50 feet of track. Operating cable cars were added in 2012, which are an exact replica of the Titlis cableway in Engelberg, Switzerland, not far from the Bavaria.”
Smulski is from Poland and his mother is German, from the region where the real castle is located.
“I know Bavaria very well,” he said.
He constucted the miniature castle with painstaking attention to detail.
“I cut every piece by hand,” said Smulski, who said the project took about 600 hours to create and an entire day to install, with the entire engineering team participating. It’s fun for him to see young visitors experience his masterpiece. (The clear Plexiglass barrier was installed to discourage the more enthusiastic young visitors from getting too close – can you blame them?)
Smulski’s handiwork is a point of pride for the hotel.
“The Neuschwanstein Castle scene is added upon each year, and we are as excited as our guests to see the newest installation,” said general manager Erwin Schinnerl.”We are grateful to our engineering team for their dedication and more than 600 hours of time devoted to creating memories for our holiday guests.”
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