Hermann Prince of Pückler-Muskau

One of Europe's greatest garden artists, a dandy, womaniser, celebrated travel writer, witty socialite, lover of exquisite food and namesake of an ice cream.

* 1785 Bad Muskau
† 1871 Branitz

Hermann Ludwig Heinrich Count of Pückler attended the pietistic educational institution of the Moravian monks in Uhyst from 1792. In 1801 he began studying law, though he abandoned this endeavour just one year later to join the garde du corps of Elector Frederick Augustus III of Saxony in Dresden as a lieutenant.

When Pückler took over the Muskau estate from his father in 1811, a baroque palace with countless outbuildings and a formal garden as well as an early landscaped section already existed there. Inspired by his intensive study of the gardens of England during two visits and the natural topography of the Neisse valley, Pückler had a classical landscape garden laid out here from 1815, which incorporated in the entire area surrounding the castle.

In 1817, the prince wed Anna Lucie Christine Wilhelmine Countess of Pappenheim, née Baroness of Hardenberg-Reventlow. In 1826, however, the couple divorced formally to allow the prince to take a new wealthy bride.

After selling Muskau for financial reasons, Pückler transformed the "desert" landscape of his old Branitz estate into his "masterpiece". He also played a major role in design of the park of the later Emperor Wilhelm I in Babelsberg. Pückler socialised with leading figures from politics, science and society of his time and, thanks to his lifestyle, also elevated Branitz from its provincial status. His extensive travels that took him as far afield as the Orient and England, shaped his liberal views, which were in turn reflected in his work in the most diverse ways. Pückler was adept at drawing the limelight to himself on every stage, whether in the salons or the newspapers or when courting a bride with a stag-drawn carriage on Unter den Linden in Berlin.

As a final flourish, he chose an unconventional burial place for himself, namely the lake pyramid in Branitz Park.