The Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, (German: ''Dessau-Wörlitzer Gartenreich'') is a

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the co ...

and

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in Germany, located between the city of

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...

and the town of

Wörlitz is a town and a former municipality in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it has been part of the town Oranienbaum-Wörlitz. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, east of Dessau. The historic p ...

in Central Germany. One of the first and largest

English park The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

s in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and continental

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, it was created in the late 18th century under the regency of Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau. Today, the

of Dessau-Wörlitz encompasses an area of within the

Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve The Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve is a Biosphere Reserve in the German Federal state Saxony-Anhalt. The Middle Elbe reserve is a 430 square kilometre protected reserve, and is the largest protected region in Saxony-Anhal It extends along the Elbe r ...

in the German state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

. Because of its exceptional landscape design and testimony to the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment, the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm was designated as a world heritage site in 2000.

Origin

The Gardens had its origin in the 17th century, when the marriage of Leopold's great-grandfather Prince John George II of Anhalt-Dessau to the Dutch princess Henriette Catharina, daughter of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange ( nl, Oranje), in 1659 brought a team of engineers and architects from the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

under the supervision of architect Cornelis Ryckwaert to lay out the town, the palace and a Baroque garden in the former settlement of ''Nischwitz'', which was renamed Oranienbaum in 1673. The Dutch influence remained prevalent in the Principality of

Anhalt-Dessau Anhalt-Dessau was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and later a duchy of the German Confederation. Ruled by the House of Ascania, it was created in 1396 following the partition of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, and finally merged into th ...

for many decades. In 1758, Prince Leopold III became the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau, and five years later he and his friend, the architect

Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Erdmannsdorff (18 May 1736 – 9 March 1800) was a German architect and architectural theoretician, and one of the most significant representatives of early German Neoclassicism during the Age of Enlightenment. ...

, embarked on a

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

across Europe. The tour (in particular the ancient architecture of Italy and the English landscape gardens), and the ideals of

The Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

they encountered abroad heavily influenced their artistic tendencies. The two men aimed to move from the

formal garden A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and in most cases a symmetrical layout. Its origin goes back to the gardens which are located in the desert areas of Western Asia and are protected by walls. The style of a forma ...

concept of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

era to a more naturalistic landscape, as they had seen at

Stourhead Stourhead () is a 1,072-hectare (2,650-acre) estate at the source of the River Stour in the southwest of the English county of Wiltshire, extending into Somerset. The estate is about northwest of the town of Mere and includes a Grade I listed ...

Gardens and

Ermenonville Ermenonville () is a commune in the Oise department, northern France. Ermenonville is notable for its park named for Jean-Jacques Rousseau by René Louis de Girardin. Rousseau's tomb was designed by the painter Hubert Robert, and sits on the Isl ...

. As early as 1765, Leopold III began to make architectural and landscape changes to the countryside in order to realize these ideals. The Wörlitz gardens served as the starting point of the programme, becoming the first landscape garden in continental Europe. Over the next 40 years, Leopold adapted or developed several other parks and palaces to fit the Enlightenment aesthetic, including the Oranienbaum Palace, Georgium Castle, Mosigkau Castle, and Großkühnau Castle.

Wörlitzer Park

The central ''Wörlitzer Park'' lies adjacent to the small town of

at an

anabranch An anabranch is a section of a river or stream that diverts from the main channel or stem of the watercourse and rejoins the main stem downstream. Local anabranches can be the result of small islands in the watercourse. In larger anabranches, th ...

of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

river, making it rich in water and diversity. It was laid out between 1769 and 1773 as one of the first

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

s on the continent. According to the ideals of Duke Leopold III the park would also serve as an educational institution in architecture, gardening and agriculture, therefore large parts were open to the public from the beginning. Most buildings were designed by Erdmannsdorff, while the gardens were laid out by Johann Friedrich Eyserbeck (1734-1818), a garden architect who was indebted to such English antecedents as Claremont,

and

Stowe Landscape Garden Stowe or Stowe Gardens, formerly Stowe Landscape Gardens, are extensive, Grade I listed gardens and parkland in Buckinghamshire, England. Largely created in the eighteenth century the gardens at Stowe are arguably the most significant example o ...

. The gardens are protected from floods of the Elbe river in the north by a dam which is also a belt-walk offering numerous views along the park's sight lines. Wörlitz Palace finished in 1773, residence of Duke Leopold and his wife Louise of

Brandenburg-Schwedt Brandenburg-Schwedt was a secundogeniture of the Hohenzollern margraves of Brandenburg, established by Prince Philip William who took his residence at Schwedt Castle in 1689. By appanage, they administered the manors of Schwedt and Vierraden on ...

, was the first Neoclassical building in present-day Germany. The palace and its interior with valuable cabinets from the studio of

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

and

David Roentgen David Roentgen (1743 in HerrnhaagFebruary 12, 1807), was a famous German cabinetmaker of the eighteenth century, famed throughout Europe for his marquetry and his secret drawers and poes and mechanical fittings. His work embraces the late Rococo ...

as well as a large collection of

Wedgwood Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...

porcelain were publicly accessible. Louise had her private home in the adjacent ''Graues Haus'' (Grey House). At the eastern rim of the palace's garden stands the Wörlitz Synagogue built in 1790 as a rotunda modeled after the ancient "

Temple of Vesta The Temple of Vesta, or the aedes (Latin ''Aedes Vestae''; Italian: ''Tempio di Vesta''), is an ancient edifice in Rome, Italy. The temple is located in the Roman Forum near the Regia and the House of the Vestal Virgins. The Temple of Vesta hous ...

Tivoli, Italy Tivoli ( , ; la, Tibur) is a town and in Lazio, central Italy, north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills. The city offers a wide view over the Roman Campagna. History Gaius Julius Solinu ...

. The building expressing Leopold's religious tolerance was saved from demolition in the 1938 "

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

" pogrom by the custodian of the park, who thereupon lost his employment. The

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

St Peter's Church in the west with its tall steeple was finished in 1809. The philosophy of

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

and the aesthetic of

Johann Joachim Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann (; ; 9 December 17178 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art. "The prophet and founding he ...

underlie the design of the park and will lead to the creation of

follies ''Follies'' is a Musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on t ...

. Rousseau saw in agriculture the basis of everyday life and pointed out to educational functions of the natural landscape. Unsurprisingly, the most elegant landscape in the area is Rousseau Island in Neumark's Garden, scored to imitate the island at Ermenonville Park where the philosopher was buried. An island on the artificial Wörlitz Lake features Europe's only artificial volcano. When Leopold III went on a grand tour of Europe in the 1760s, he was captivated by a trip to Naples in which he saw a smouldering

Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of s ...

and would have heard about the newly-discovered town of

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

. Twenty-two years later, the German royal set about bringing a piece of Naples to Germany; he had his architect build a brick inner building nearly five stories high and cover it with local boulders. At the top, a hollow cone was made and contained a high chamber, complete with three fireplaces and a roof that contained an "artificial crater" that could be filled with water. He then constructed a lake around the volcano and invited his friends to watch an eruption. Only contemporary accounts detail what the 18th-century artificial eruption would have been like, but the practice still takes place today, complete with modern effects, after the island was restored to its past glory. Minor structures of the Garden Realm, stretching for some 25 km, had far-reaching ramifications in architecture of Central Europe. The "Gothic House", started by Erdmannsdorff in 1774, modeled on the villa of

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

at Strawberry Hill, was one of the first Neo Gothic structures on the continent. The park also features replicas of

Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete state. Today they remain "the most obvious symbol of Ro ...

s, including the

Pantheon Pantheon may refer to: * Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building Arts and entertainment Comics *Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization * ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...

built in 1795. In the early years of the following century, the landscape was enriched with the Neo-Gothic churches in the neighbouring villages of

Riesigk Riesigk is a village and a former municipality in Germany not far from the town of Wittenberg in the district of Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, on the south side of the Elbe river. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Oranienbaum-Wörlitz. It ...

(1800) and

Vockerode Vockerode is a village and a former municipality in the district of Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Oranienbaum-Wörlitz. At Vockerode, there was a large coal-fired power plant, the Vockerode Powe ...

(1811). The grounds, which had been divided into four parts since the constructions of a railway line and the

Bundesautobahn 9 is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Berlin and Munich via Leipzig and Nuremberg. It is the fifth longest autobahn spanning . Route The northern terminus of the A 9 is at the Potsdam interchange, where it merges into the A 10, ...

in the 1930s, were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.

ICOMOS The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS; french: links=no, Conseil international des monuments et des sites) is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the worl ...

, however, noted that "the overall structure of the landscape has undergone a good deal of deterioration".

Oranienbaum

The original Oranienbaum Palace was finished in 1683 as the summer residence of Henriette Catharina, where she retired after the death of her husband in 1693. The rich furnishing includes

leather wallpaper Leather wallpaper is a type of wallpaper used in various styles for wall covering. It is often referred to as wrought leather. It is often gilded, painted and decorated. Leather was used to cover and decorate sections of walls in the houses o ...

s and a dining room equipped with Delft tiles. However, in 1780 Duke Leopold III had the palace and the park rebuilt in a Chinese style, according to the theories of

Sir William Chambers __NOTOC__ Sir William Chambers (23 February 1723 – 10 March 1796) was a Swedish-Scottish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. Biog ...

, with several

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

s, a

tea house A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...

and a

pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

. In 1811, the

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very large ...

was built, with in length one of the largest in Europe, which still serves to protect a wide collection of

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

plants. Oranienbaum Palace together with the park and the geometrical settlement conception forms one of the few original Dutch Baroque town layouts in Germany. Queen

Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...

, Princess of Orange-Nassau, inspected the restoration works on 3 March 2004.

Georgium Palace

In 1780, John George (1748-1811), a younger brother of Duke Leopold III, had the Georgium Castle by Erdmannsdorff. Located in a

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...

woodland north of Dessau, the palace features an English garden with several monuments. The garden is the second largest within the Garden Kingdom aside from the Wörlitz gardens. Today the Georgium hosts the

Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

collection of art, including works by

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

- especially an

old master print An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition. The term remains current in the art trade, and there is no easy alternative in English to distinguish the works of "fine art" produced in printmakin ...

of his

Melencolia I ''Melencolia I'' is a large 1514 engraving by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. The print's central subject is an enigmatic and gloomy winged female figure thought to be a personification of melancholia – melancholy. Holding he ...

- and

Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder (german: Lucas Cranach der Ältere ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is know ...

Luisium Castle

Luisium Castle is located in the ''Waldersee'' district of

, and was a gift from Duke Leopold III to his wife Louise. It was built between 1774 and 1778 in a plain Neoclassical style as a country home according to plans by Erdmannsdorff with adjacent gardens, pastures and a

stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, documentation o ...

. The rooms on the ground floor and first story are decorated with ornate stucco decorations and wall paintings. Nearby is the neogothic Snake House, which was used as a holiday home and tea-house. The orangery at the Snake House draws its design from London's

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

. Leopold died at the castle on 9 August 1817 from the consequences of a riding accident.

Mosigkau Castle

Mosigkau Castle in the west of Dessau is one of the few

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

palaces in Central Germany, resembling

Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, which had been designed by

Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (Hans) Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (17 February 1699 – 16 September 1753) was a painter and architect in Prussia. Knobelsdorff was born in Kuckädel, now in Krosno Odrzańskie County. A soldier in the service of Prussia, he resigned his ...

. It was built between 1752 and 1757 for

Anna Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Dessau Anna Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Dessau (13 June 1715, in Dessau – 2 April 1780, in Dessau), was a German princess of the House of Ascania from the Anhalt-Dessau branch. She was the third (but second surviving) daughter of Leopold I, Prince of An ...

, the daughter of Prince Leopold I. The ensemble includes an

and an art collection of

Flemish Baroque painting Flemish Baroque painting refers to the art produced in the Southern Netherlands during Spanish control in the 16th and 17th centuries. The period roughly begins when the Dutch Republic was split from the Habsburg Spain regions to the south with ...

, stemming from Duke John George's II union with the

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands ...

, that features works by

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

and

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

Großkühnau Castle

Großkühnau Castle marks the western end of the Garden Realm. It was built in 1780 for Albert of Anhalt-Dessau, a younger brother of Duke Leopold III, at Kühnau Lake. The park includes several artificial islands, fruit tree orchards and a vineyard. Today the castle is the seat of the ''Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz'', the trust running the park. Furthermore, the Garden Realm encompasses the Leiner Berg forester's lodge, built in 1830, now a restaurant near the Elbe Cycle Route, and the Sieglitzer Berg forest park laid out in 1777.

Gallery

References

External links

Official site of the Dessau-Woerlitz Garden RealmOfficial site of the Wörlitz ParkOfficial Site of Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dessau-Worlitz Garden Realm Castles in Saxony-Anhalt Gardens in Saxony-Anhalt Gardens in Germany Continental gardens in the English Landscape Garden style World Heritage Sites in Germany Landmarks in Germany Dessau Museums in Saxony-Anhalt Historic house museums in Germany 1769 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Cultural landscapes of Germany