Synagogue in the Park at Wörlitz, Germany

Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff was an eminent German architect and artistic adviser to Prince Leopold Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau. He is known for the German neoclassical buildings he designed, particularly for those in the prince’s landscaped garden in Wörlitz. In 1786, he was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia to redesign several rooms in royal palaces in Potsdam and Berlin. He became a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and Mechanical Sciences in 1789. In 1796, he took over the artistic direction of the Chalkographische Gessellschaft in Dessau, an organization established to make art available to the public through reproductions in etchings.