- Muskau Park
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Muskauer Park / Park Mużakowski * UNESCO World Heritage SiteCountry Germany and Poland Type Cultural Criteria i, iv Reference 1127 Region ** Europe and North America Inscription history Inscription 2004 (28th Session) * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List
** Region as classified by UNESCOThe Muskau Park (German: Muskauer Park, officially: Fürst-Pückler-Park Bad Muskau, Polish: Park Mużakowski), is the largest and one of the most famous English gardens of Germany and Poland.
Situated in the historic Upper Lusatia region, it covers 3.5 square kilometers (1.4 sq mi) of land in Poland and 2.1 km2 (0.81 sq mi) in Germany. The park extends on both sides of the Lusatian Neisse river, which constitutes the border between the countries. The 17.9 km2 (6.9 sq mi) buffer zone around the park encompassed the German town Bad Muskau (Upper Sorbian: Mužakow) in the West and Polish Łęknica (Wjeska, former Lugknitz) in the East. While Muskau Castle is situated west of the river, the heart of the park are the partially wooded raised areas on the east bank called The Park on Terraces. In 2003 a pedestrian bridge spanning the Neisse was rebuilt to connect both parts.
On July 2, 2004, UNESCO added the park to its World Heritage List, as an exemplary example of cross-border cultural collaboration between Poland and Germany. It was added to the list on two criteria: for breaking new ground in terms of development towards the ideal man-made landscape, and for its influence on the development of landscape architecture as a discipline.
History
A fortress on the Neisse river at Muskau was first mentioned as early as in the 13th under the rule of Margrave Henry III of Meissen. The founder of the adjacent park was Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785-1871), the author of the influential Hints on Landscape Gardening and owner of the state country of Muskau since 1811. After prolonged studies in England, in 1815 during the time when the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia fell to Prussia, he laid out the Park. As time went by, he established an international school of landscape management in Bad Muskau and outlined the construction of an extensive landscape park which would envelop the town "in a way not done before on such a grand scale".
The works involved remodelling the Baroque "Old Castle" - actually a former castle gate - and the construction of a Gothic chapel, an English cottage, several bridges, and an orangery designed by Friedrich Ludwig Persius. 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 due to 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 followed by his daughter Princess Marie, who sold the estates to the Arnim noble family.
During the Battle of Berlin, both castles were levelled and all four bridges across the Neisse were razed. The Arnims were dispossessed by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany and since the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line in 1945, the park has been divided by the state border between Poland and Germany, with two thirds of it on the Polish side. Not before the 1960s the Communist authorities slowly accepted the legacy of the "Junker" Prince Pückler. The Old Castle was rebuilt by the East German administration in 1965-72, while the New Castle and the bridges are still being restored.
After the Revolutions of 1989 the German and Polish administration joined forces on the redevelopment of the park ensemble. Since Poland entered into the Schengen Area in 2007, visitors may freely explore both parts of the park without cross-border controls.
External links
World Heritage Sites in Poland Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940–1945) · Białowieża Forest / Belovezhskaya Pushcha (with Belarus) · Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork · Centennial Hall, Wrocław · Churches of Peace in Jawor and Świdnica · Cracow's Historic Centre · Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Architectural and Park Landscape Complex and Pilgrimage Park · Park Muzakowski / Muskauer Park (with Germany) · Medieval Town of Toruń · Historic Centre of Warsaw · Wieliczka Salt Mine · Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland · Old City of Zamość
Coordinates: 51°33′01″N 14°43′36″E / 51.55028°N 14.72667°E
Categories:- World Heritage Sites in Germany
- World Heritage Sites in Poland
- Parks in Germany
- Gardens in Saxony
- Parks in Poland
- Castles in Poland
- Castles in Saxony
- Gardens in Poland
- Landmarks in Germany
- Museums in Saxony
- Żary County
- Historic house museums in Germany
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