Garden Kingdom Dessau-Wörlitz

„The beauty here is infinite,” Goethe raved when he visited the Wörlitz park 250 years ago - the largest and first part of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom, the „Gartenreich“. Soon after, all of Europe was to admire this unique Garden Kingdom, based upon English precursors. Naturally, the local population of the time was also in awe. Thanks to the enlightened ideas of the reigning prince and founder of the Garden Kingdom, Leopold III Friedrich Franz, princely gardens now became accessible to the people „for educational purposes“. These gardens included the Georgium, the Luisium and the Sieglitzer Berg forest park. Grand avenues, paths along dikes and visual axes connect these places to this day with older grounds in Oranienbaum and Mosigkau, merging them into a seemingly endless park complex.

Marvel at the only artificial volcano in Europe on the rocky island „Stein”, or take an Italian gondola ride on lake Wörlitz; these and many more offers await you in Dessau-Wörlitz.

In 2000, the state of Saxony-Anhalt started a project unique in Germany. Among the approximately 1,000 garden monuments between the Harz mountains and the rivers Elbe and Saale, the most beautiful, most important and most popular sites were selected and then combined to a meta-entity dubbed “Garden Dreams - Historical Parks in Saxony-Anhalt“. The aim was to foster preservation and tourism at the same time.

Today, 50 sites belong to the initiative. 11 of them are in the World Heritage region Anhalt-Dessau-Wittenberg, among them the UNESCO World Heritage Site Garden Kingdom Dessau-Wörlitz. Following extensive restoration work, the parks today shine in renewed splendor.