Dessau-Worlitz Garden Realm

The Dessau-Worlitz Garden Realm, also known as the English Grounds of Worlitz, is one of the first and largest English parks in Germany and continental Europe. It was created in the late 18th century under the regency of Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau (1740-1817), returning from a Grand Tour to Italy, the Netherlands, England, France and Switzerland he had undertaken together with his friend architect Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff. Both strongly influenced by the ideals of The Enlightenment, they aimed to overcome the formal garden concept of the Baroque era in favour of a naturalistic landscape as they had seen at Stourhead Gardens and Ermenonville. Today the cultural landscape of Dessau-Worlitz encompasses an area of 142 km² (55 sq mi) within the Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.