New Castle, Bad Muskau

The New Castle in Bad Muskau stands a few hundred metres across the border, but you can walk to it from the Polish town of Łęknica through the park – it is the centrepiece of Muskau Park (Park Mużakowski), inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 2 July 2004. For almost half a century after the war this three-winged Neo-Renaissance residence was a burnt-out shell; its reconstruction was completed only in 2013. Today it houses an exhibition about the park's eccentric creator, Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, and a viewing tower.

From moated stronghold to palace

A fortified site on the Neisse was first mentioned in 1245 – a moated castle with a dominant tower. In 1520–1530 the Bieberstein family turned it into the first proper castle, and after a fire in 1586 and further rebuilding in the 17th century it became a Baroque three-winged residence. You can still see traces of that history: the wings differ in width, the north wing does not meet the rest at a right angle, and stubby towers face the park – former bastions from the early modern period. The castle owes its present ornate look to Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, who acquired the estate in 1846; in 1863–1866 the architects Maximilian Franz Strasser and Hermann Wentzel remodelled it in Neo-Renaissance style. Their stone statues adorn the south gable of the central wing.

Pückler and his "painting with nature"

Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871) – writer, traveller, dandy and one of Europe's most famous garden designers – made the castle the centre of a vast landscape composition. He himself spoke of "painting with nature". The park covers 728 ha on both banks of the Lusatian Neisse, of which 522 ha lie in Poland and 206 ha in Germany; it is the largest English-style landscape park in Poland. The Polish part is managed by the National Heritage Board of Poland, the German part by the Fürst-Pückler-Park Bad Muskau Foundation.

War and reconstruction

At the end of the Second World War a German defensive line ran through the park, and the castle was set on fire. Only the outer walls and some ground-floor vaults survived. The rubble was cleared in 1950, but reconstruction plans stayed on paper for decades. Emergency works began in 1990, and systematic rebuilding lasted from the 1990s until 2013. The Double Bridge over the Neisse, blown up in 1945, was rebuilt in 2000–2003 and is now the easy way across from the Polish side.

What to see

• The multimedia permanent exhibition about Prince Pückler in the south wing – with a carriage ride, a theatre and films; its title calls him "simply impossible to pin down".
• The castle tower – at a height of 35 m you can see the whole park; the tower also houses an exhibition about the old town of Muskau.
• The castle ramp designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, linking the courtyard with the park.
• The Carp Bridge where the Hermannsneiße flows into Lake Lucie – the classic postcard view of the castle.
• The Orangery of 1844 and the castle gardens with a pineapple house, where, just as in Pückler's day, pineapples are ripening again.

Tripto tip

The castle is in Bad Muskau (address: Neues Schloss, 02953 Bad Muskau), just across the Neisse from Łęknica. The simplest option is to leave the car on the Polish side and walk over the Double Bridge – bring an ID document, as you are crossing a national border. The tourist centre in the castle's west wing is open from 1 April to 31 October, daily 10:00–18:00; guided tours also start here. Parking on the German side costs from €1.50 for 1.5 hours. The exhibitions are wheelchair accessible (lift and stair lift), but the tower climb is not. Allow at least 2–3 hours for the castle and the central part of the park.