Clare Island Abbey, officially St. Brigid's Abbey, is a former Cistercian monastery located in County Mayo. It was founded in the 12th/13th century and in 1224 became a cell of Knockmoy Abbey, a Cistercian abbey near Tuam.
It was rebuilt c. 1460. It contains numerous tombs of the local ruling family, the Ó Máille (O'Malley) and tradition claims it as the site of the baptism, marriages and burial of Gráinne 'Grace' O'Malley (c. 1530 – c. 1603), the famous 'pirate queen.' She is believed to have been interred at the O'Malley tomb which has a canopy.
The abbey was probably dissolved during the late 16th century. Later it was a place of refuge for Carmelite Friars.
The abbey is furnished with piscina, sedilia, carved heads and ogee and cusp-headed lancet windows.
Clare Island Abbey contains a series of medieval wall and ceiling paintings. They depict mythical, human and animal figures including dragons, a cockerel, stags, men on foot and on horseback, a harper, birds and trees. Such ornamentation is unusual for a Cistercian foundation.
References:Linderhof is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.
Ludwig II, who was crowned king in 1864, began his building activities in 1867-1868 by redesigning his rooms in the Munich Residenz and laying the foundation stone of Neuschwanstein Castle. In 1868 he was already making his first plans for Linderhof. However, neither the palace modelled on Versailles that was to be sited on the floor of the valley nor the large Byzantine palace envisaged by Ludwig II were ever built.
Instead, the new building developed around the forester's house belonging to his father Maximilian II, which was located in the open space in front of the present palace and was used by the king when crown prince on hunting expeditions with his father.