THE PARK

The twenty-two-hectare Park of Miramare is the result of the challenging work carried out over many years by Maximilian of Habsburg on the rocky promontory of Grignano, which originally had the appearance of a karst expanse almost entirely devoid of vegetation.
For the design, Maximilian resorted to the services of Carl Junker, while for the botanical part he initially turned to the gardener Josef Laube, later replacing him with Anton Jelinek, a former participant in the famous world expedition of the frigate Novara.
Large quantities of soil were brought from Styria and Carinthia, and nurserymen especially from Lombardy-Venetia procured a rich variety of tree and shrub species, many of them of non-European origin. The work began in the spring of 1856 and were followed constantly by Maximilian, who would not cease to take an interest in his garden even when he settled in Mexico, from where he would send numerous plants.
In the eastern area, a “woodland” arrangement that followed the orography of the site prevailed: trees alternating with grassy spaces, winding paths, gazebos and ponds, re-proposed the romantic norms of the English landscape garden.
The southwest part, shielded from the wind, accommodates geometrically arranged areas, as in the case of the Italian-style garden in front of the “Kaffeehaus” or the well-articulated flower beds around the little port.