Bad Muskau

Bad Muskau is a spa town in the historic region of Upper Lusatia in eastern Germany, in the Görlitz district of the State of Saxony and directly on the border with Poland. It stands on the banks of the Lusatian Neisse river, opposite the Polish town of Łęknica, and lies within the recognized Sorbian settlement area, where Upper Sorbian has official status beside German and the town is also known as Mužakow. The town grew from a trading centre and defensive site founded in the 13th century on the Neisse and first named in a document in 1249, and it received its charter in 1452. It passed from Bohemian to Saxon and then Prussian rule over the centuries. Rich clay deposits supported a long pottery trade, and alum was mined here from 1573 until 1864. Its worldwide fame rests on prince and landscape artist Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, whose landscape park, Muskau Park, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared between Bad Muskau and Łęknica.