Invitation to the Garden Kingdom Festival 2024
We celebrate the birthday of Prince Franz!
The Garden Kingdom Festival 2024 will take place on August 10 and 11. With a colorful program of events at various locations, visitors are invited to experience the UNESCO World Heritage Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz as a whole.
To celebrate the birthday of Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau – the founder of the Garden Kingdom – on August 10, 1740, the Garden Kingdom Day was established over 20 years ago. Having grown into a weekend of colorful activities between Dessau and Wörlitz, the cooperation partners have now given the two-day event a new name: Garden Kingdom Festival.
The events offered on Saturday and Sunday from Dessau to Wörlitz are always festive and varied: Concerts, picnics, exhibitions, guided tours, bike tours, family fun, entertainment on the World Heritage Line 304 buses, open churches and monuments and evening gondola rides. They offer the perfect opportunity to enjoy the World Heritage Site and gain special insights – from sunrise to sunset.
Things to see and do
In Dessau, the Garden Kingdom Festival starts on Saturday with a guided tour for early risers at 5.45 am by bike at the Georgium. Other guided bike tours and walks between the Garden Kingdom parks promise interesting facts about the Garden Kingdom.
On Saturday, Dessau offers a market and an entertaining supporting program at Georgium Palace: Exhibitions, classical music, coffee and cake, children’s activities and much more will create a festive atmosphere. Admission to the Anhalt Picture Gallery, the Fremdenhaus at Georgium Palace and the Mausoleum is free on August 10.
Großkühnau Palace, the administrative headquarters of the Dessau-Wörlitz Cultural Foundation, can be visited on a guided tour on Saturday.
The pagoda in Oranienbaum Castle Park is also open to visitors. In addition, the “Oranienbaum Market Woman” will guide you to the most important and interesting places from 350 years of the town’s history.
On Sunday, the “Picnic with Franz” will take place on the castle meadow in front of Wörlitz Castle as well as the gondola ride at the Blue Hour. The wide range of supporting events includes free guided tours of the palace and palace garden, guided tours of the Eichkranz or a mindful walking meditation in the morning.
The churches in Mosigkau, Waldersee, Großkühnau and Wörlitz will be opening their doors to curious visitors on both days. Those who climb the Bible tower of St. Peter’s Church can visit the new exhibition “Through the church year with Bible tiles”.
The exhibition “Big little water world – invertebrates 2.0” will be open on both days in the Auenhaus information center of the Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve – a voyage of discovery to the aquatic life in our local waters.
Further events, as well as prices, times and registration conditions can be found in the full program on the official landing page of the Garden Kingdom Festival 2024: anhalt-dessau-wittenberg.de/gartenreichfest
Tips on how to get there
On Saturday, August 10, we recommend a free bus ride on the World Heritage Line 304, which will take you to the Georgium and Luisium in Dessau as well as Wörlitz. A supporting program on the bus line provides special entertainment.
Find out more
Of course, the Dessau-Wörlitz Railway also runs on schedule between Dessau and Wörlitz throughout the weekend. With intermediate stops in the Dessau district of Waldersee with the Luisium and the burial place of the princely couple in the church of St. Bartholomew, in the baroque town of Oranienbaum or at the Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve, you can travel through a large part of the Garden Kingdom.
To the travel times
All the highlights of the Garden Kingdom are perfectly connected by cycle paths. For this reason, not only will guided bike tours be offered at the Garden Kingdom Festival, but the Solitude in the forest park on Sieglitzer Berg, which can only be reached by bike, will also be open on Sunday. The Rotary Club Dessau invites you to enjoy coffee and cake here – ideal for a break on the way between Dessau and Wörlitz.