For a federal state that few people outside of Germany have ever heard of, Sachsen-Anhalt has more than its fair share of UNESCO World Heritage sites.
There are, to begin with, the sites connected with Martin Luther and the history of the Reformation: Eisleben where he was born and, above all, Wittenberg where he lived and preached for more than 30 years.
But there is also the Garden Kingdom of Woerlitz-Dessau
The what? I hear many of you ask.
This ensemble of originally interconnected 18th century gardens – the four gardens of today were separated only in the 1930s when the near-by autobahn and railway lines were built – is a genuine three-star attraction. You can see all four of them in a day, but only if you have a car.
If you do not, it is best to concentrate on the glorious centrepiece, the Woerlitzer Park around the old feudal landlord’s residence.
This magnificent estate is a rare find: there are not many public parks in the world so flirtatious, so coquettishly aware of their own artificiality, …
… and so carefully arranged for visual impact …
… to the point where nearly every vista resembles a painting.
And if you like to take photographs, the Garden Kingdom of Woerlitz-Dessau is well worth the trip for its richness in motives alone.
Much is made in the literature of the “aesthetic, educational and economic purposes“ of the gardens and of their connections with Rousseau and the Age of Reason.
The UNESCO laudatio calls the Garden Kingdom “an outstanding example for the application of the philosophical principles of the Age of Enlightenment to the design of a landscape that integrates art, education and economy in a harmonious whole”.
Hmmm. Allow me to add a note of scepticism, in the spirit of Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx in the movie “Duck Soup”), who, when caught in flagrante delicto, claims his innocence by challenging his accuser: “Who do you believe, me or your lying eyes?”.
Over the years, I have seen – with my own lying eyes – many worthy aesthetic, educational and economic projects, and none of them look like this. That is not intended as a criticism, on the contrary.
The Garden Kingdom of Woerlitz-Dessau is delightful, a true wonder of the world, but we should celebrate it for what it is: the embodiment of a personal fantasy, a Rococo Disneyworld that was primarily conceived for an audience of one individual alone, Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau, the man who created (and financed) these gardens for a period of over 60 years.
Landscaping architects who set out to educate and edify the “common people” do not come up with anything like this. (They come up with the green spaces around a modern-day council estate.) If the Woerlitzer Park was purpose-built for anything, it was surely as a theatre for the Prince’s, ahem, playful escapades while his wife – stashed away in the Luisium, the one garden of the four that was created as her personal refugium – enjoyed the splendid isolation of her beloved local countryside.
Even in the Woerlitzer Park, you are never far away from “the real country”: in fact, it starts right outside the park’s perimeter.
The remarks about the Prince’s romantic escapades are, by the way, more than mere conjecture. Prince Leopold’s Wikipedia page credits him with 10 illegitimate children – and these are only the ones he officially recognized. It seems fair to say that the Prince followed other interests, in addition to his dedication to the principles of Enlightenment philosophy.
The list of non-whimsical elements that the Prince threw into the blender of his landscaping creation is short and comprises little more than the palace, which was constructed in the conventional classicism of its day …
… and some small, largely decorative orchards and vineyards.
These can, if you really want to, be seen as evidence for the Prince’s “interest in new agricultural methods”, as the official literature claims.
But there can be no question that the Prince’s Kingdom is much less sober than playful.
It is the sheer dottiness of it all …
… the “anything goes” spirit of the architecture, the wish to delight at any cost which gives the site its almost surreal quality.
A few practical tips. First of all, to get there, take bus 304 (direction: Wittenberg) from Dessau station (which is a little more than an hour away by train from both Leipzig and Magdeburg, 90 minutes from Berlin) and call at the Neue Reihe stop in Woerlitz. Cross the road, turn left and then right into Alter Wall, and you are almost there.
A good look around the park will take you at least two hours, but you can easily spend a full day if you want to see everything there is to see.
You will need a map of the garden (the Google Map of the site is fairly basic but workable), because the garden’s lay-out is rather complicated, and you are bound to miss some of the attractions if you just walk around aimlessly.
The entrance to the park is free, but have a few coins ready: some of the transfers require a ferry, and you must drop € 1 per head and transfer into a cashbox. The ferries circulate from April to October.
If you are visiting in the off-season, it is still possible to see almost everything on foot but you will need to make a few detours. (The tiny Rose Island is the only bit of the park which is accessibly only by ferry.)
And finally, before you return to your base: take the time for a short ten-minute walk to the far side of Dessau train station to have a look at what’s made Dessau famous.
This is the building where Walter Gropius and his merry band of modernists designed all those stylish chairs, tables and coffee pots in the 1920s.
You can visit the historical Bauhaus HQ and even extend your visit to have a closer look at other traces that the movement has left in Dessau’s building fabric. (For more details, go here.)
Several of the former Bauhaus buildings (including the HQ) enjoy the special protection of the UNESCO.
Dessau thereby contributes two to Sachsen Anhalt’s Triple Crown of World Heritage Sites – which is not bad for a drab and – in certain areas – fairly rundown industrial town …
…. and a good reason to pay a visit.
