Miramare Castle in Trieste
Friday, 8 December 2017 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische UnionCategory/Kategorie: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time: 12 minutes Miramare Castle is a 19th-century castle on the Gulf of Trieste near Trieste, northeastern Italy. It was built from 1856 to 1860 for Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium, later Emperor Maximilian I and Empress Carlota of Mexico, based on a design by Carl Junker. The castle’s grounds include an extensive cliff and seashore park of 22 hectares (54 acres) designed by the archduke. The grounds were completely re-landscaped to feature numerous tropical species of trees and plants. The work, steadily supervised by Maximilian, was finished only after his departure in 1864 for Mexico where he was appointed Emperor, and where after a brief reign he was shot in Querétaro in June 1867. Maximilian intended to create an intimate atmosphere in the castle in the area reserved for his family – an area which he wanted to be in contact with nature, reflecting both his own spirit and that of an epoch. On the ground floor, destined for the use of Maximilian and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium, worthy of note are the bedroom and the archduke’s office, which reproduce the cabin and the stern wardroom respectively of the frigate Novara, the war-ship used by Maximilian when he was Commander of the Navy to circumnavigate the world between 1857 and 1859; the library, whose walls are lined with bookshelves and the rooms of the Archduchess with their tapestry of light-blue silk. All the rooms still feature the original furnishings, ornaments, furniture and objects dating back to the middle of the 19th century. Many coats of arms of the Second Mexican Empire decorate the castle, as well as stone ornamentations on the exterior depicting the Aztec eagle. The first floor includes guest reception areas and the Throne Room. Of note are the magnificent panelling on the ceiling and walls and the Chinese and Japanese drawing-rooms with their oriental furnishings. Of particular interest is the room decorated with paintings by Cesare Dell’Acqua, portraying events in the life of Maximilian and the history of Miramare. Currently, the rooms in the castle are mostly arranged according to the original layout decided upon by the royal couple. A valuable photographic reportage commissioned by the archduke himself made accurate reconstruction possible. Nowadays to visit the castle is to experience the fascination of life in the middle of the 19th century in a residence that has remained largely intact and which gives the visitor an insight into the personality of Maximilian.
After having been commissioned as an officer in the Imperial navy in 1852, Maximilian decided to move to Trieste where he stayed for increasingly longer and more frequent periods. He rented a villa on the slopes of the hill of San Vito from Niccolò Marco Lazarovich with a clause in the contract that allowed him to make all the modifications he considered necessary. Subsequently, during the completion of Miramare Castle, the archduke had a small castle called the Gartenhaus or Castelletto built which reproduced on a smaller scale the façade of the main castle and which he lived in off and on until Christmas 1860. The Castelletto, situated in a panoramic area, faces Grignano on one side and on the other a parterre surrounded by trees and on a clearing in front of greenhouses at the centre of which there is a fountain. Modelled on eclectic forms on a square base with a terrace facing the castle, the tower and the arbour entrance, the Castelletto has a small number of simply furnished rooms. On the ground floor there is a decoration on plaster painted to resemble wood. On the first floor, on the other hand there is a decoration very similar to the one in Villa Lazarovich which can be connected to Maximilian’s decision to transfer to the Castelletto his own part of the ornaments of the Villa which was his first residence in Trieste. In fact, the rooms in Turkish and German styles and the room decorated with panels of female figures present strong parallels between the two buildings and highlight the artistic tendencies of the time: numerous decorations, walls covered in paintings, many ornaments, heavy curtains and rooms crowded with furniture. The Castelletto is linked to the history of Maximilian and Charlotte. It was here that Charlotte stayed from the end of 1866 to the summer of 1867, between her return from Mexico and journeying to Belgium. It also housed part of the furnishings of Miramare Castle during the period when the Duke of Aosta stayed there.
Maximilian commissioned the plan for Miramare Castle’s stables, the design of which was undertaken between 1856 and 1860 by the architect Carl Junker. He had already planned all the works to be done in the area of Miramare: the castle, the park and all its access paths, the Castelletto, the Porticciolo (‘little port’), the conservatories, the Swiss house and the pavilion at the back of the parterre. Junker’s sketches set out the planning of the stable’s building, both in its totality and in each part devoted to a specific use. The building is made up of three parts surrounding a central yard opened to the sea. It is located on the road leading to Trieste, in a sheltered, healthy place at a distance from the castle. It is 40 metres (131 ft) square. The central section was intended for horses: Junker’s sketches including the location of the animal stalls, lining the bottom perimeter. The two wings, perfectly symmetrical, are sub-divided into three parts: near the stables box-rooms for harness; then accommodations for the staff and, finally, the kitchens, near the sea. The great pavilion at the back was reserved for coaches. Its access on the west side is made up of two main doors (one probably the entrance, the other the exit). Between the two World Wars, when the castle was inhabited by the Dukes of Aosta, changes were made to the stables.
Visitors to the castle will be able to see the following: Maximilian’s chambers and those of his consort, Charlotte; the guest rooms; the information room telling the history of the castle and the park’s construction; the Duke Amedeo of Aosta‘s apartment with furnishings from the 1930s in the Rationalist style. All the rooms still feature the original furnishings, ornaments, furniture and objects dating back to the middle of the 19th century. Particularly noteworthy are the music room where Charlotte used to play the fortepiano, now on show in room VII. In room XIX there are a series of paintings by Cesare dell’Acqua depicting the history of Miramare. Lastly, visitors may visit the throne room, which was recently restored to its former splendour.
Read more on Wikipedia Miramare Castle (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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