ERDMANNSDORFF, Friedrich Wilhelm von

A comprehensive program was laid down for his principality in 1758 by Leopold Frederick Franz III, prince of Anhalt-Dessau. It was intended to reshape the small principality into a “cultural landscape” with the installation of W�rlitz as its heart. Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff was commissioned to execute the program which included promoting agriculture, industry and art. Extensive tracts of the country were transformed into park landscapes, a palace, really just a country hose, was built based on English Palladian models. The sole expression of grandeur is a four-column portico with Corinthian columns and a pediment in front of a plain cubic residence.

A comprehensive program was laid down for his principality in 1758 by Leopold Frederick Franz III, prince of Anhalt-Dessau. It was intended to reshape the small principality into a “cultural landscape” with the installation of W�rlitz as its heart. Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff was commissioned to execute the program which included promoting agriculture, industry and art. Extensive tracts of the country were transformed into park landscapes, a palace, really just a country hose, was built based on English Palladian models. The sole expression of grandeur is a four-column portico with Corinthian columns and a pediment in front of a plain cubic residence.

A comprehensive program was laid down for his principality in 1758 by Leopold Frederick Franz III, prince of Anhalt-Dessau. It was intended to reshape the small principality into a “cultural landscape” with the installation of W�rlitz as its heart. Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff was commissioned to execute the program which included promoting agriculture, industry and art. Extensive tracts of the country were transformed into park landscapes, a palace, really just a country hose, was built based on English Palladian models. The sole expression of grandeur is a four-column portico with Corinthian columns and a pediment in front of a plain cubic residence.

The W�rlitz Park, starting point and highlight of the beautification of the natural environment by Prince Leopold III. Frederick Franz, is considered to be the epitome of the Enlightenment in Germany. Here, in the first English landscaped park in Continental Europe, you can find the foundation buildings of German Classicism and the Gothic Revival.

The park, laid out on the pattern of an English garden, pursued a pedagogical program. Linked by long axial views, the small buildings (fabriques) in the garden unfolded a cross-section of history of man, natural history and architectural history, ranging from the Egyptian crypt under the Roman Pantheon to the Gothic House.

The Gothic House in W�rlitz marks the real start of the Gothic Revival in Germany.

The photo shows the Gothic House.

The park at W�rlitz incorporates many influences from Kew, near Richmond, Rousham (Oxfordshire), Stourhead (Wiltshire) and Stowe (Buckinghamshire), and was an attempt to create England-by-the-Elbe, as an exemplary and educational programme to raise the tone of the Principality to one of Enlightenment and Progress.

The photo shows the W�rlitz Lake with Amalie Grotto.

The park, laid out on the pattern of an English garden, pursued a pedagogical program. Linked by long axial views, the small buildings (fabriques) in the garden unfolded a cross-section of history of man, natural history and architectural history, ranging from the Egyptian crypt under the Roman Pantheon to the Gothic house.

The photo shows the landscape garden with one of the fabriques.

In Germany, the idea of the landscape garden based on Rousseau’s philosophy spread with particular intensity. In the age of Enlightenment the garden at W�rlitz, near Dessau, rapidly became famous. It was the creation of Prince Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau, and soon after its completion, around 1790, it was held to be one of the major attractions of Europe. For the Prince, the garden was a model of the enlightened state, and was to be the aesthetic centre of a model principality. It was clearly modeled on the British landscape garden. The Prince undertook several extensive journeys to England and studied the gardens there. He was accompanied on his travels by the architect Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff and the gardener Johann Friedrich Eyserbeck.

Erdmannsdorff designed the Neo-Palladian Schloss at W�rlitz, based on his English experiences. Interiors in the Schloss include Pompeian elements, while the park, laid out by Johann Friedrich Eyserbeck (1734-1818) and Johann Leopold Ludwig Schoch (1728-1793), has many allusions to England. In fact, the park incorporates many influences from Kew, near Richmond, Rousham (Oxfordshire), Stourhead (Wiltshire) and Stowe (Buckinghamshire), and was an attempt to create England-by-the-Elbe, as an exemplary and educational programme to raise the tone of the Principality to one of Enlightenment and Progress.

The photo shows a view from the golden urn to the “new” bridge, synagogue and church.

The park at W�rlitz incorporates many influences from Kew, near Richmond, Rousham (Oxfordshire), Stourhead (Wiltshire) and Stowe (Buckinghamshire), and was an attempt to create England-by-the-Elbe, as an exemplary and educational programme to raise the tone of the Principality to one of Enlightenment and Progress.

The photo shows the Temple of Flora.