Bad Muskau

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Bad Muskau (Sorbian: Mužakow), formerly Muskau, is a small county town in Upper Lusatia, Germany, being the site of the famous Park von Muskau. It is part of the district Niederschlesischer Oberlausitzkreis, in Saxony.

It is located on the Lusatian Neisse, which forms the border between Poland and Germany, directly opposite the Polish town Łęknica.

[edit] History

Muskau was founded in the 13th century, firstly mentioned 1249.

The earldom (Standesherrschaft) of Muskau was the biggest of the Holy Roman Empire. Up to 1815 it belonged to Margravedom of Upper Lusatia under the Elector (later King) of Saxony, after 1815 to Prussia.

Up to the beginning of the 19th century Muskau's rulers were the Imperial Earls of Callenberg, succeeded up to 1845 by the Earl (later Duke) Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, later on by Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Karl von Oranien-Nassau, and after him by the Earls von Arnim, right up to 1945.

After 1945 it was divided (along the Neiße river) between East Germany and Poland. This included the division of the famous Park von Muskau.

1962, Muskau was renamed "Bad Muskau" after a therapeutic bath was build there. Only towns with officially recognised therapeutic baths are allowed to use that name prefix.

[edit] Muskau personalities

The natural scientist Nathaniel Gottfried Leske (1751-1786)
The writer and composer Leopold Schefer (1784-1862)
The famous landscape gardener and writer Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785-1871), founder of the Park von Muskau
The landscape gardener Eduard Petzold (1815-1891)