Bad Muskau (; formerly Muskau, , , ) 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 banks of the Lusatian Neisse river. The town is part of the recognized Sorbian settlement area in Saxony. Upper Sorbian has an official status next to German, with all villages bearing names in both languages. The town of Lugknitz, formerly incorporated into Bad Muskau, was separated in 1945 by the new state border drawn along the Oder–Neisse line. Muskau Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is similarly split with the municipality containing its western half. Bad Muskau gained worldwide fame through prince and landscape artist Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, who created a unique cultural asset with his landscape park. History Muskau (Sorbian, "men's town") was founded in the 13th century as a trading center and defensive location on the Neisse, being first mentioned in a document in 1249. The state country (Standesherrschaft) of Muskau was the largest of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1319 it was part of the Duchy of Jawor, one of Lower Silesian duchies of fragmented Piast-ruled Poland. In 1329 it passed to the Bohemian (Czech) Kingdom, where it formed part of the Margraviate of Upper Lusatia, a Bohemian (Czech) Crown Land. The town passed into the possession of the von Bieberstein family in 1447, gaining its charter in 1452. Part of the von Bieberstein crest, the red five-pointed stag horn, remains in the town's coat of arms. By the 1635 Peace of Prague it passed to the Electorate of Saxony, later elevated to the Kingdom of Saxony in 1806. Between 1697 and 1763, it was also under rule of Polish kings in personal union and was one of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the town at that time. Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route. In 1815, the northern and eastern parts of Upper Lusatia came to Prussia as a result of the Congress of Vienna, which reorganized the political order of Europe after the Coalition Wars (1792–1815) and from then on bore the official name "Prussian Upper Lusatia". Administratively, this area was integrated into the Province of Silesia and later into the Province of Lower Silesia, which existed until 1945. In the so-called