Added: 11/09/2005 |
Nothing Bad About Bad Muskau ParkThe good Prince dedicated the latter years of his life developing his vast estate into a park unlike any other. Better known as muskau park or park bad muskau, this expansive area of greenery, trees and gently rolling hills is the biggest and probably most famous English-style park of Germany and Poland. Why Germany and Poland? Because the park in bad maskau is so big that it covers nearly six kilometers of land on both sides of the Lusatian Neisse River. Which - by the way - constitutes the Polish-German border. The German town of bad muskau sits smack-dab in the middle and is a convenient point of reference.
Prince Puckler-Muskau was a man of letters. An educated man whose interests reached far beyond the borders of his hometown of bad muskau. He studied extensively in England for long periods, admiring and soaking up as much as he could regarding English-style landscape and architecture. So much so, that by the early 19th century the Prince would eventually be regarded as the "founder of German landscape architecture".
At what point his dream took shape isn't clearly established. What is known is that by 1815, the Prince had a vision and a goal that would reshape his life and dissipate his vast fortune: to create a huge landscape park in the English style on the nearly 1300 acres that comprised his estates at bad muskau.
Like many a great artist before him, the Prince's desire to realize his dream almost consumed him. So much so that his blind desire to complete his landscape masterpiece nearly left him bankrupt. In 1846 he was forced to sell off the beautifully created muskau park . The Prince retired to a smaller property and continued his obsession with English landscapes by creating smaller, more economically feasible gardens and parks.
Prince Pueckler-Muskau died in 1781. He left his estate - - the smaller property located in the township of Brantz to his nephew, who completed the Prince's proposed landscape in 1888. By that time the property covered nearly 400 acres. The idealism of the late 1800's segued into more realistic 20th century. park bad maskau was sold to Prince Frederick of the Netherlands and continued to evolve for the better. But by the time of the early-to-mid 1940's the nearly two-thirds of the park on polish soil had been all but neglected. And bad maskau in particular lost whatever allure it once had when industrial development waned.
Fast forward to the new millennium and in July of 2004, the park was earmarked as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since then, the fortunes of the park and also the township of bad muskau have reversed. Extensive restoration has taken place on both sides of the park's borders and both of the Muskau Castles have been refurbished as well. This region also includes bad muskau's Polish sister-city of Leknica. Additionally, the historic and current routes between Muskau and Branitz are studied for their potential landscape, history, and tourism opportunities. Finally, much work has been down in and around the park restoring the city and landscape, ensuring that the beauty of muskau park will survive for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.
If Prince Puckler-Muskau was able to view the course of his park's history leading to its recent resurgence, he would no doubt be pleased that his initial goals have been met: he created the ultimate park that has indeed served as a fitting epitaph to his life's work.
Article comments:
No comments for this article yet. Post your comment now!
