Occupying more than 1700 acres, it’s one of the largest landscape parks in Europe. It stretches on both sides of the Nysa Łużycka River that constitutes the Polish-German state border. The larger part of the park (over 1200 acres) is located on the Polish side, while the German part occupies the neighborhood of Bad Muskau (Mużaków).

Prince Hermann Pückler-Muskau, the leading expert and father of German landscape parks, founded the park in the early 19th century. Inspired by English gardens, he transformed his family residence into unusual parkland. It was skillfully arranged in the natural valley with the residential buildings erected on diverse slopes and high terraces, all surrounded by gardens featuring rich architectural and floral details. The well-known architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed some buildings. Other artists and planners also contributed to the final result of the project. The group included the painter August Schirmer and the English landscape designer John Adey Repton. In order to create picturesque park scenery, an artificial river branch was created.

Thanks to the careful preservation of the original parkland by the subsequent owners such as for example Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, the Muskauer landscape retained its original character.

After WWII, the new Polish-German state border divided the Mużaków/Muskauer Landscape Park into two parts. The Polish and German authorities started the renewal program in the 1980s. This project has become a unique example of fruitful bilateral cooperation in the field of protection and conservation of cultural landscape.

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