Wörlitzer Park, English garden in Oranienbaum-Wörlitz, Germany.
Wörlitzer Park is an English garden in Oranienbaum-Wörlitz that covers wide meadows, waterways, and wooded areas arranged around Lake Wörlitz. Five linked sections of the garden connect through canals, bridges, and paths lined with neoclassical buildings, temples, and pavilions scattered throughout.
Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau founded the garden starting in 1765 after his travels through England and Italy, where he encountered new ideas in garden design. The work continued for several decades and shaped the development of landscape gardens across Germany.
This garden bears the name of its creator Prince Franz of Anhalt-Dessau, who designed it to spread Enlightenment ideas through landscape and architecture. Today visitors walk past ancient temples, rustic cottages, and foreign building styles placed side by side, all meant to teach through direct observation.
Visitors explore the grounds on foot, by bicycle, or through gondola rides on the water, with the boats running only during warmer months. Plan for several hours since the paths are long and the buildings spread far apart.
An artificial volcano on an island mimics eruptions and was built in the 18th century to demonstrate geological processes in a tangible way. Nearby stands the first neo-Gothic church in Germany, commissioned by Prince Franz as an experiment in medieval building technique.
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