Neuschwanstein Castle, the 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace in Bavaria, is most famous for being the real-life inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle. While the animated version isn't a direct copy, Walt Disney used the castle's silhouette and "fairytale" aesthetic as his primary reference. In live-action cinema, Neuschwanstein starred as the "Vulgarian" castle in the 1968 classic "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," where it was the backdrop for the famous airborne car flight. It also appeared in the 1963 war epic "The Great Escape," visible in the background during Steve McQueen's legendary motorbike chase scenes. More recently, the castle featured in the 2014 film "The Monuments Men," which tells the true story of Allied soldiers recovering art stolen by the Nazis, much of which was actually hidden in Neuschwanstein during WWII. The castle's dramatic mountain perch and soaring turrets make it a go-to location for any director wanting to evoke a sense of high-fantasy romance or old-world grandeur, appearing in countless travel documentaries and even being featured in the video game Civilization VI as a buildable World Wonder.