The castle was built using conventional brick, marble and white limestone mined from a nearby quarry and lifted to the site using a steam crane. With costs escalating to around 6.2 million marks, Ludwig insisted that tight deadlines be met, with up to 300 workers being engaged for periods of night-work with oil lamps.

Neuschwanstein Castle was built between 1869 and 1886 using a fascinating blend of medieval aesthetics and 19th-century industrial technology. Despite its "fairytale" appearance, the construction was a massive engineering feat that utilized advanced machinery like steam-powered cranes and a modular "steel frame" hidden within the traditional limestone and brick masonry. To reach the isolated hilltop, King Ludwig II had to build a dedicated access road and utilize a complex network of wooden scaffolding that clung to the cliffs. The castle's walls were built with roughly 465 tons of Salzburg marble and 1,550 tons of sandstone, all lifted into place by the latest German engineering of the 1880s. Ironically, while the castle was designed to look like a middle-ages fortress, it featured cutting-edge luxuries for its time, including central heating, hot and cold running water, and an automatic flushing system for the toilets. Construction was so labor-intensive and expensive that it nearly bankrupted the King, and following his mysterious death in 1886, work stopped immediately, leaving more than 200 of the planned rooms unfinished to this day, though the exterior remains one of the world's most iconic architectural achievements.