The ContextLoaderListener loads and creates the ApplicationContext, so a developer need not write explicit code to do create it. In short, it is a listener that aids to bootstrap Spring MVC.
The application context is where Spring bean resides. For a web application, there is a subclass called WebAppliationContext.
The lifecycle of the ApplicationContext is tied to the lifecycle of the ServletContext by using ContextLoaderListener. The ServletContext from the WebApplicationContext can be obtained using the getServletContext() method.
