Industrielles Gartenreich

The historical backdrop of this achievement was particularism and the economic backwardness of fragmented Germany, which was in a state of deep crisis after fighting the Seven Years War (1756-1763). Whereas in England the middle-class forces had already stripped the feudal aristocracy of power after the revolution beginning in 1640, in the German territories the restorative forces of feudal absolutism still held their positions of power. However, Prince Leopold Friedrich Franz von Anhalt Dessau (1740-1817) had other plans. Guided by the humanistic ideals of the philosophy of the Enlightenment, he launched an extensive reform program immediately after the Seven Years War was over. It aimed primarily at a renewal of economic conditions, and was accompanied by cultural and pedagogical reforms.
Erhard Hirsch calls the Garden Realm a "culmination of the Enlightenment in Dessau": "The Dessau Wörlitz Cultural Circle reached a high point in the philanthropism connected with the rediscovery of sport as a school subject, which then spread worldwide from Dessau. It also culminated in the creation of the 'Garden Realm', as the contemporaries of the state of Anhalt Dessau called it. Hence, not merely the admired 'beautiful region, glorified by art, [was made,] a well-administered and outwardly ornamental countryside' (Goethe), but it was also to be often repeated: under a humane rule, a land's culture also served pedagogical aims, the education of the people in the broadest sense.
Inclined to symbolism and allegorization, garden art of the baroque period and to an even greater degree that of the rococo was in many ways didactic. But in Dessau, landscape design did not proceed from them. In accordance with its motto 'the useful with the beautiful', it approached the utilitarian objectives of the philosophy of the Enlightenment. … In this fashion, Dessau allowed bourgeois culture to take on a convincing form for the first time, thus propagating enlightened thought within its own region as well as among the countless receptive visitors who spread it from here throughout Europe. And these visitors could not be enthusiastic enough in their remarks. Their visions of a possible realm of reason had indeed become visible reality here. Franz Volkmar Reinhardt spoke of an 'arena for rational beings'. …Only from this overall view can the - in our eyes - overly enthusiastic fervor of contemporaries for the Dessau Garden Reich be grasped." (Hirsch 1987)

The enlightened reforms which the absolutist regent Prince Leopold Friedrich Franz von Anhalt Dessau (1740 - 1817) attempted to introduce bore fruit - a ray of hope in the midst of an otherwise dull feudal society in the German provinces. The ambitious reform plans of the Prince were influenced by his passion for England, for bourgeois culture and garden art as well as for economics and technology. It was reform from above, inspired by enlightened absolutism and based on a physiocratic economy which had been practiced by the predecessors of Prince Franz. Particularly the cultural aspects of his reformatory measures set them clearly apart from Anhalt's neighbors - the state of Prussia and a number of other small German states. Numerous travelers came, eager to see this experiment of an enlightened world on a miniature scale. They spread the word of the picturesque Garden Realm. One of the most eloquent travelers of the day, Adolf Müller of Leipzig, wrote the following in 1805 about the Garden Realm which had become reality: "No hint of the wretched poverty and sloth of the people; sufficient opportunity for artistic pursuits in the beautiful garden grounds, works of architecture of all kinds - theater of excellent quality, music, and wealth in moderation and industrious activity … ." (Quoted from Hirsch 1965, 21) There were large numbers of effusive accounts on the model landscape bordering on the middle reaches of the Elbe River, of a diligent undertaking which extended to the entire society of the principality: industria (L) = diligence.
Writing in 1796, Andreas R. Riem, a philosopher of the Enlightenment and sympathizer with the French Revolution, had enthusiastic praise for what had been created in Anhalt Dessau. He also noted the model character of what was emerging in the Garden Realm: "The entire land is a garden of God and the area around Dessau nothing short of paradise. …it is a masterpiece of fiery imagination. … As soon as one arrives in town [Dessau], one sees industry, crafts, trade and every visible branch of a good public economy everywhere… ." (Quoted from Hirsch 1987, 229)
The way in which the term "industry" was used at the time can naturally only be seen as a precursor of modern usage. The attribute 'industrious' gives expression to the high regard in which the reforms in Anhalt were held. Industrious activity is deemed to be an integral part of the "region glorified by art" (Hirsch 1987, 158). Hence, contemporaries saw industrial development as the logical continuation of reforms in design, education and the economic and political systems in the Principality of Anhalt.

Signs of the "proto-industrial", of the age of capitalism (cf. Mendels 1972, 241f.) could be identified in Anhalt at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, particularly due to its close ties with England. After all, Prince Franz had brought numerous ideas and economic innovations back from his travels to England, for example new agricultural methods as well as artistic and architectural impulses. Among these were the beginnings of industrially influenced economic methods which were then artistically molded and politically asserted.
However, industrialization which was already visible in England at the time was still unknown in the Principality of Anhalt. The mainstay of the economy remained agriculture. The Prince introduced the latest methods of farming from England to the Garden Realm and revolutionized the entire medieval system of agriculture by, among other things, doing away with the three-field system. In the 18th century Anhalt was considered all over Europe to be a model of modern agriculture. The principality became a leading center of learning. "For many years farmers from all over Europe came here to observe and learn!" (Hirsch 1987, 83) The use of new methods and technologies (fertilization, cultivation of clover, animal husbandry, etc.) were clear precursors of industrialized agriculture which gradually prevailed in the 19th century (artificial fertilizers, plant breeding, mechanization by, for example, steam-driven plows). (Cf. Breymeyer 1998, 286f.) However, Anhalt was not only associated with agricultural reform but also with hopes of a transition to bourgeois society. Goethe praised the Garden Realm as a development which was in radical contrast to the predominant militaristic, conservative feudal society.

The late work of Prince Franz von Anhalt Dessau gives clear indication of times to come. In the eastern and final section of Wörlitz, the scaled-down replica of the Ironbridge in Coalbrookdale in the English Midlands, the first iron bridge construction in the world, symbolizes the transition to a new age.

Visitors to the Garden Realm around 1800 witnessed a continuous process of development, which was characterized by industriousness and cultural sensitivity. Yet, although the reforms instituted by the Prince can be seen as a reaction to feudal conditions, and the social and economic crises of the 18th century, they remained ambivalent. On the one hand, pioneering as an integrated model for development and, at the same time, restorative and caught up in absolutist conditions.
Ultimately the Garden Realm's prime depended too greatly upon its protagonists, on the Prince and his congenial partners. With the death of the architect and creator of all structures built in the Garden Realm, Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff, in 1800, and the death of Prince Franz in 1817 the reforms lost their driving force. The result was the discontinuation of the Garden Realm's development. No new forces existed to carry the idea on, in other words to make the transition to a new era. The Garden Realm stagnated.
The Dessau Wörlitz Garden Realm: The Dessau Wörlitz Garden Realm was the first large land beautification project on the Continent that aimed at cultivating an entire countryside along the lines of the English 'ornamented farm'. The historical backdrop of this achievement was particularism and the economic backwardness of fragmented Germany, which was in a state of deep crisis after fighting the Seven Years War (1756-1763). Whereas in England the middle-class forces had already stripped the feudal aristocracy of power after the revolution beginning in 1640, in the German territories the restorative forces of feudal absolutism still held their positions of power.