Park Wörlitz

An impressive English-style landscaped park

“Here is now infinitely beautiful. […] The bush is in its most beautiful youth, and the whole thing has the purest loveliness …”, wrote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1778 about the then completely new Wörlitzer Park. Visitors to the unique landscape park are as enthusiastic as the poet prince to this day.

Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau had the oldest park based on the English model on the European mainland built after his trip to England in 1765. But this is only a first step: just a few years later, Schloss Wörlitz is the founding building of German classicism. It was inaugurated in March 1773. The court composer of Prince Franz, Friedrich Wilhelm Rust, writes his own cantata.

Further classicist and neo-Gothic buildings follow, making Park Wörlitz the showpiece of a comprehensive program to improve and beautify life. In the spirit of the Enlightenment, this idea radiates from the laboratory of the small Principality of Anhalt-Dessau to the whole of Europe. Soon Park Wörlitz became a pilgrimage destination and a role model to emulate. Prince Franz created his own England here on 700 square kilometers – as an alternative to militaristic Prussia.

The starting point for the architecture of the Wörlitz Park, which the prince conceived with the architect Erdmannsdorff, a friend of his, and the gardeners Eyserbeck and Schoch, was the “English Seat”. The park, which was created over the course of 35 years, not only included gardens and buildings, but was associated with fruit growing, agriculture and cattle breeding.
The useful and the pleasant should come together here.

Behind this is the Enlightenment educational goal of Prince Franz, to open the facilities to all citizens from the very beginning. That has remained the case to this day. In the sense of a miniature world with 17 bridges from all over the world, delightful garden paintings, temples, caves and other architectures, the park invites you to travel back in time. The five garden parts are connected by a sophisticated system of visual relationships, paths and canals. At the beginning and end of the visual axes are buildings, sculptures and plantings. Meaningful and unerring, the view is directed into the distance. The garden and building are maintained, renovated and restored to this day.

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Highlights

Visit the historic palaces and collections

Tips for your visit

Don't miss it!

Public guided tours

Numerous stories are hidden in the artfully designed landscape of the park and are waiting to be told and heard. That’s why we recommend all guests to take part in a guided tour.

Public guided park tours take place daily at 1:00 p.m. from April to October.

Meeting point at the summer dining room of the Küchengebäude, palace side
Duration 2 to 2.5 hours

Adults: € 11.00
Guests with spa card: € 10.00reduced: € 5.50

Children up to 16 years free of charge

Tickets are available at the Tourist information office in the Küchengebäude at Schloss Wörlitz, on +49 (0) 3 49 05.3 10 09 or online

Group tours and special themed tours are only possible by appointment in German, English and French.

Duration: 2 hours (recommended)
Package price up to 15 people: € 105.00
each additional person: € 7.00
reduced: € 3.00
(plus € 1.00 per person ferry crossing)

Duration: 1 hour (only palace garden)
Package price up to 15 people: € 75.00
each additional person: € 5.00
reduced: € 2.00

Gondola rides

A trip across Lake Wörlitz and through the canals, as experienced by Prince Franz, is still one of the most beautiful ways to enjoy the constantly changing garden images of the landscape park.

April
on the hour 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

May to September
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

October
on the hour 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Adults € 12.00
Reduced € 10.00
Children and pupils € 3.00
Dog € 2.00

Reductions
for groups of 15 people or more
Students up to 25 years, trainees, unemployed, severely disabled (accompanying person free), holders of volunteer cards of the city of Dessau-Roßlau

May to September
Mon–Fri 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

€ 150.00/hour (max. 12 persons per gondola)
each additional hour € 110.00
plus price for coffee set, food, drinks

By appointment only!

Evening gondola ride on Lake Wörlitz and canals with elegant Italian dinner on the water

Start 6:00 p.m. (two hours), ticket price per person: € 72.00

Dates 2024
June 26; 02, 04, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25 July;
01, 06, 13, 20, 22, 27, 29 August 2024

Booking at www.abendgondelfahrt.de

Ferries

The passenger ferries make it possible to let your gaze wander far over the water and shorten your way through the park as you wish. Perfect, when you are not so good on foot!

Synagogue–Weidenheger

March
Sat, Sun 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

April, October
daily 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

May to September
daily 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Neumarks Garten–Roseninsel–Schochs Garten

April, October
daily 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

May to September
daily 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Schlossgarten–Neumarks Garten

April, October
Sat, Sun, public holidays 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

May to September
daily 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Normal price:
Per person per crossing € 1.00
Reduced € 0.50
Children and pupils € 0.50

Day ticket:
Per person € 3.00
Children and pupils € 1.50