Parco del Castello di Miramare

Miramare Castle Park covers about 22 hectares of the Grignano promontory near Trieste. Begun in 1856 on terrain described by the museum as almost bare karst, the park was shaped with imported soil, trees from nurseries in the Lombardo-Veneto and species from outside Europe.

Why it matters

The park was designed as an integral part of the Miramare complex. Carl Junker planned the grounds, and gardeners Josef Laube and Anton Jelinek developed the plantings. Soil was brought from Styria and Carinthia, and Maximilian continued to send plants while abroad. The museum describes the park as a “green museum,” reflecting its role in cultivating and acclimatising unusual botanical species.

What to notice

The park combines an English-style wooded landscape on the eastern side with more geometric Italian-style compartments in the sheltered south-west. Sculptures by the Berlin firm Moritz Geiss, a small building known as the Swiss house and cannons donated by King Leopold I of Belgium are among its features. The chapel of San Canciano has a crucifix made from timber of the frigate Novara; Ludwig Viktor dedicated the chapel in 1900. Near the sea, the Bagno Ducale preserves the bathing cabin of Duke Amedeo d’Aosta. The historic greenhouses stand near the Castelletto.

Context and history

Junker also designed the castle and the Scuderie. Laube and Jelinek planted the park to withstand the headland’s wind and salt. The grounds developed as part of the state museum complex, which includes the castle, Castelletto, Scuderie and greenhouses. The park’s planting and layout remain the work of successive gardeners and ongoing conservation.