The interior of a church with figures

The Princely and Ducal family of Anhalt (the so-called Askanier) was among the oldest and most important of the former reigning families in Germany. From the early Middle Ages until 1918, the heads of different branches of the dynasty were the sovereigns of the Duchy of Anhalt, which had been reunited in 1863 and later became in part today's fedral state of Sachsen-Anhalt. Over several centuries, they influenced the political, economic and cultural history of Germany, not to say of Europe by virtue of marriages to other noble families. But their influence is most apparent in Sachsen-Anhalt itself, and in the towns of Ballenstedt, Bernburg, Dessau, Köthen, Mosigkau, Wörlitz and Zerbst. The famous 'English park' at Wörlitz, created by Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau (1740-1817), has now been proposed as one of the World Heritage Sites listed by UNESCO. Many members of the family played roles of international importance in European history, for example, Prince Leopold I von Anhalt-Dessau (1674-1747), the famous commander of the Prussian royal army, nicknamed the 'Alter Dessauer'. By the time of his death the family had produced its most famous scion, Princess Sofie Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst (1729-1796), who was to become the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. After 1918, the Duchy retained considerable estates as well as a large part of the family collections that they had assembled over the centuries - over 2,000 paintings alone were catalogued at the time. Duke Joachim Ernst von Anhalt (1901-1947) for the most part kept the vast and important art collections in the castles at Dessau and Ballenstedt.