Beautiful Park in Bad Muskau by Fürst Pückler (UNESCO World Heritage)

Considered to be among the most famous English gardens in central Europe, Muskau Park is located in Germany and Poland. About 1/3 of the 3.5 square kilometres big garden is located in the German town of Bad Muskau in Saxony, eastern Germany. Ever since I watched a documentary about Fürst Pückler I wanted to visit his Park. Officially recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it’s worth any visit. From the City of Dresden, it was about a 1,5-hour drive to Bad Muskau, both on the Autobahn and country roads. Due to a blocked route beforehand I had to drive to Muskau by passing the Polish border. Luckily, as Poland joined Schengen in 2007, there were no controls for passports or goods. At the ‘Postplatz’ parking space you can park your car for 2€ for 2 hours, or for 5€ for anything above 2 hours, per day. The location of this space is ideal if you want to visit the Fürst Pückler Park and/or stroll the city.

Muskau Park is the largest English garden in Central Europe. The park was laid out from 1815 onwards at the behest of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871). Pückler reconstructed the medieval fortress as the “New Castle”, the compositional centre of the park, with a network of paths radiating from it and a pleasure ground influenced by the ideas of Humphry Repton, whose son John Adey worked at Muskau from 1822 on. The extensions went on until 1845 when Pückler because of his enormous debts was constrained to sell the patrimony. The next year it was acquired by Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, who employed Eduard Petzold, Pückler’s disciple and a well-known landscape gardener, to complete his design. Upon his death in 1881, he was succeeded by his daughter Princess Marie, who sold the estates to the count von Arnim.