Muskau Park

Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau began this park in 1815 and worked on it for thirty years, spending his fortune and eventually selling the estate; he wrote a book on landscape gardening based on the experience that influenced designers including Frederick Law Olmsted. The park covers about eight hundred and thirty hectares along the Neisse, and since 1945 the river has been the German-Polish border, so roughly two thirds lie in Poland. Restoration has been carried out jointly since the 1990s, with bridges rebuilt across the river, and UNESCO listed the whole park in 2004 as a transboundary site. The New Castle was rebuilt after wartime destruction.

History

A fortress on the Neisse at Muskau is first mentioned in the 13th century, and Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, owner of the estate from 1811 and author of the influential Remarks on Landscape Gardening, began the park in 1815 after long studies in England, remodelling the Old Castle, rebuilding the medieval fortress as the New Castle and adding bridges, a chapel and an orangery by Friedrich Ludwig Persius, with John Adey Repton working here from 1822. His debts forced him to sell in 1845; Prince Frederick of the Netherlands bought the estate the next year and had Eduard Petzold complete the design. In 1945 both castles were wrecked and all four bridges over the Neisse blown up, and since the Oder-Neisse line was drawn that year two thirds of the park have been in Poland; the Old Castle was rebuilt in 1965-1972, the English Bridge was rededicated on 17 October 2011, and in July 2004 the park became a joint German-Polish World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Muskau Park).

What you'll find

• The divided park - one design split across a river border, restored jointly.
• The Pückler landscape - a park whose principles shaped later designers.
• The rebuilt bridges - crossings restored to reconnect the two halves.
• The New Castle - a reconstructed house with an exhibition on Pückler.

When to go

April to October; crossing to the Polish side requires nothing more than walking over a bridge. The castle closes Mondays and in winter.

Practical notes

The park is very large and needs hours or a bicycle. The Polish side has fewer facilities. The castle is a postwar reconstruction.

Nearby

Branitz lies northwest; Görlitz is south.

Key facts