Ludwig II of Bavaria is one of the most mysterious and tragic figures of the 19th century. Most historians call him the “mad king,” justifying those who deprived him of power. He tried to be a medieval absolute monarch in a small German state at the end of the modern era; patronized people of art; was friends with the composer Richard Wagner, the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna and the Austrian Empress Sisi. He did a lot to unify Germany, but tried to preserve the sovereignty of his Bavaria, whose “calling cards” are still the castles he built. The people loved him, but they hated him. Who was he - a medieval knight in the realm of cynical self-interest, a sensitive romantic in the networks of materialism, or a crazy homosexual who squandered the state treasury on his architectural eccentricities? Ludwig said that he would like to remain an eternal mystery. Maria Zalesskaya is trying to unravel it, revealing the secrets of the life and death of Ludwig II - the “Moon King”, a hero out of his time.