Teaching German

Culture

Prince Pückler: a lifelong obsession with beautiful gardens

In the 19th century, Prince Pückler created Europe's biggest English landscape garden in Bad Muskau. The exhibition "Parkomanie" (park mania) at the Bundeskunsthalle presents the most beautiful aspects of his garden art.

Nature as a work of art

The year 1815 saw the creation of a unique work of art in Germany's Oberlausitz Region: Prince Pückler constructed a landscape garden in Bad Muskau that almost appears to be an oil painting. Stretching across 820 hectares in the easternmost part of Germany and the westernmost part of Poland, Bad Muskau is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site that belongs to two different countries.

A multifaceted nobleman

Pückler is said to have been somewhat of a Dandy as well as an intellectual. He spent his mornings in bed in his castle receiving high-ranking beautiful ladies. He knew how to enjoy life. He also loved traveling across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, starting liaisons wherever he went. Pückler published reports and letters from his trips, where he discovered his greatest passion: nature.

A castle in the clouds

Pückler's wanted to use nature to create living paintings. His park in Bad Muskau became a representation of this vision. Prussia's famous master-builder Karl Friedrich Schinkel was supposed to build a castle for this park, but with funds drying up fast, his plans never materialized. Prince Frederick of the Netherlands had to step in and rescue the project, becoming the next proprietor of Muskau.

Open-air parlors

In his treatise entitled "Adumbrations for Landscape Gardening" - which went on to become mandatory reading material for landscape planners worldwide, Pückler explained the significance of gardens: "If the park is regarded as a contracted piece of idealized nature, then the garden is to be seen as an extension of the home (...) expanding the chambers of the house to the open skies."

Gardens as objects of prestige

Perspective played a highly important role in Pückler's creative arrangements. That also held true for his second park project in Branitz, to which he later retired. Pückler appreciated scenic vistas full of depth and dimension. He was also happy to take pains to transplant trees or to grow them in his so-called "tree university." His favorite tree was the copper beech tree.

The art of transplantation

The development of special transplantation machines for his tree universities (as pictured) was truly a stroke of genius typical for Pückler. The machines enabled him to transplant trees from his parks to other Locations with great ease, including trees up to a height of 21 meters (69 feet).

A royal commission

As commisioned by Emperor Wilhelm I himself, Prince Pückler managed to turn the arid and sandy soil of Park Babelsberg outside Berlin into a flourishing landscap. Hw accomplished this feat by installing an ingenious irrigation system consisting of long Pipelines underground. He also created flowing hills in such a way that unknowing visitors would never suspect they had artificially been created.

Landscapes straight out of paradise

Prince Pückler took gardening to a new level. Some say that he was garden fetishist, working tirelessly to perfect his craft. Pückler wrote numerous papers on what landscapes should ideally look like: He said they were to appear natural - not manicured; he also had a penchant for creating artificial landscapes reflecting untamed nature, full of meandering paths, lush vegetation, and waterways.

Nature as a work of art

The year 1815 saw the creation of a unique work of art in Germany's Oberlausitz Region: Prince Pückler constructed a landscape garden in Bad Muskau that almost appears to be an oil painting. Stretching across 820 hectares in the easternmost part of Germany and the westernmost part of Poland, Bad Muskau is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site that belongs to two different countries.

A multifaceted nobleman

Pückler is said to have been somewhat of a Dandy as well as an intellectual. He spent his mornings in bed in his castle receiving high-ranking beautiful ladies. He knew how to enjoy life. He also loved traveling across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, starting liaisons wherever he went. Pückler published reports and letters from his trips, where he discovered his greatest passion: nature.

A castle in the clouds

Pückler's wanted to use nature to create living paintings. His park in Bad Muskau became a representation of this vision. Prussia's famous master-builder Karl Friedrich Schinkel was supposed to build a castle for this park, but with funds drying up fast, his plans never materialized. Prince Frederick of the Netherlands had to step in and rescue the project, becoming the next proprietor of Muskau.

Open-air parlors

In his treatise entitled "Adumbrations for Landscape Gardening" - which went on to become mandatory reading material for landscape planners worldwide, Pückler explained the significance of gardens: "If the park is regarded as a contracted piece of idealized nature, then the garden is to be seen as an extension of the home (...) expanding the chambers of the house to the open skies."

Gardens as objects of prestige

Perspective played a highly important role in Pückler's creative arrangements. That also held true for his second park project in Branitz, to which he later retired. Pückler appreciated scenic vistas full of depth and dimension. He was also happy to take pains to transplant trees or to grow them in his so-called "tree university." His favorite tree was the copper beech tree.

The art of transplantation

The development of special transplantation machines for his tree universities (as pictured) was truly a stroke of genius typical for Pückler. The machines enabled him to transplant trees from his parks to other Locations with great ease, including trees up to a height of 21 meters (69 feet).

A royal commission

As commisioned by Emperor Wilhelm I himself, Prince Pückler managed to turn the arid and sandy soil of Park Babelsberg outside Berlin into a flourishing landscap. Hw accomplished this feat by installing an ingenious irrigation system consisting of long Pipelines underground. He also created flowing hills in such a way that unknowing visitors would never suspect they had artificially been created.

Landscapes straight out of paradise

Prince Pückler took gardening to a new level. Some say that he was garden fetishist, working tirelessly to perfect his craft. Pückler wrote numerous papers on what landscapes should ideally look like: He said they were to appear natural - not manicured; he also had a penchant for creating artificial landscapes reflecting untamed nature, full of meandering paths, lush vegetation, and waterways.