Bad Muskau

Bad Muskau
Muskau Castle
Coat of arms
Bad Muskau
Location of Bad Muskau within Görlitz district
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	Saxony
District	Görlitz
Municipal assoc.	Bad Muskau
Government
• Mayor	Andreas Bänder (CDU)
Area
• Total	15.35 km2 (5.93 sq mi)
Population (2014-12-31)
• Total	3,661
• Density	240/km2 (620/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	02953
Dialling codes	035771
Vehicle registration	GR
Website	www.badmuskau.de

Bad Muskau (German pronunciation: [ˌbaːt ˈmʊskaʊ]; formerly Muskau, Upper Sorbian: Mužakow, Polish: Mużaków) is a spa town in the historic Upper Lusatia region in Germany at the border with Poland. It is part of the Görlitz district in the State of Saxony.

It is located on the Lusatian Neisse, which since 1945 has formed the German-Polish border, directly opposite the town of Łęknica (formerly Lugknitz). The municipality comprises the western half of the famous Muskau Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History

Muskau was founded in the 13th century and was first mentioned in 1249. The state country (Standesherrschaft) of Muskau was the largest of the Holy Roman Empire. It belonged to the Margraviate of Upper Lusatia, a Bohemian crown land which by the 1635 Peace of Prague passed to the Saxon Electorate, elevated to the Kingdom of Saxony in 1806. Part of Upper Lusatia was annexed by Prussia according to the 1815 Congress of Vienna and was administered as part of the Province of Silesia.

Up to the beginning of the 19th century Muskau's direct rulers were the Counts of Callenberg, succeeded up to 1845 by Count (later Prince) Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, later on by Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Karl von Oranien-Nassau, and after him by the Counts von Arnim, right up to their flight in April 1945. After World War II it was divided along the Neisse River between East Germany and the Republic of Poland. About two thirds of the park came under Polish administration.

In 1962 Muskau was renamed "Bad Muskau" after a therapeutic bath (spa) was built there.

Twin towns

• Łęknica, Poland
• Bolków, Poland

People

• Nathaniel Gottfried Leske (1751–1786), natural scientist
• Leopold Schefer (1784–1862), writer and composer
• Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871), famous landscape gardener and writer, founder of the Park von Muskau
• Gustav Fechner (1801–1887), experimental psychologist
• Eduard Petzold (1815–1891), landscape gardener
• Karl Peglau (1927-2009), traffic psychologist
• Olaf Zinke (1966), skater, Olympic gold medalist

External links

• Official website of Bad Muskau