The Empress spent her childhood summers on the west shore; the King spent his last hours on the east shore and died in the lake. Two stories that still shape Lake Starnberg.
Born in 1837, Sisi spent parts of her childhood at Possenhofen Castle near Starnberg, the summer residence of Duke Max in Bavaria. The Empress Elisabeth Museum in the former Possenhofen railway station tells her story.
Sisi’s cousin, the “fairy-tale king”, spent his last hours at Berg Castle and died in Lake Starnberg on 13 June 1886. A cross in the water and a votive chapel mark the place.
The magic of Starnberg is a little bit connected to Sisi, Empress of Austria, and to her cousin King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Their places face each other across the northern part of the lake: Possenhofen and the museum on the west shore, Berg with its castle park and votive chapel on the east shore. Both castles are private and can only be seen from outside.
The lakeside castle at Possenhofen was the summer residence of Duke Max in Bavaria, and it was here that Elisabeth — the future Empress Sisi — spent much of her childhood. Today the castle is divided into private condominiums: it can only be seen from outside and from the public park in front of it, by the water.
A short walk from the castle, the former royal railway station of Possenhofen — including the princely waiting room of 1865 — houses the Empress Elisabeth Museum, devoted to Sisi and her family, the Dukes in Bavaria.
On the east shore, Berg Castle was a summer residence of the Wittelsbachs. King Ludwig II spent his last hours here in June 1886. The castle belongs to the Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds and is not open to visitors, but part of its park — with the votive chapel — is public.
The neo-Romanesque memorial chapel was built in 1896–1900 to plans by the architect Julius Hofmann, in the castle park above the spot where King Ludwig II was found dead on 13 June 1886.
Below the chapel, a simple wooden cross stands in the shallow water. It marks the place where Ludwig II and Dr von Gudden were found dead on 13 June 1886.
Sources: Wikipedia (Schloss Possenhofen) · StarnbergAmmersee.de (Empress Elisabeth Museum) · StarnbergAmmersee.de (Berg Castle) · StarnbergAmmersee.de (Votive Chapel) · Wikipedia (Votivkapelle Berg). Checked 8 October 2026. Links marked “Books & souvenirs” are Amazon affiliate links.
Click a photo for the name, the page and the (i) photo source. The memorial cross lies in the water just below the Votive Chapel. Map: OpenFreeMap · © OpenStreetMap contributors.
