MEMORIAL PLATE TO THE FOUNDER OF THE GARDEN

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JULIANA'S GARDENERS 

Here we can see a memorial plaque dedicated to Albert Bois de Chesne (1871-1953), Juliana’s founder. He was a descendant of a French Huguenot family, residing in Trieste. De Chesne was a fauna caretaker and a hunting tenant in Trenta since 1892. With his own funds and with the aid of the locals as well as foreign experts, he designed a botanical garden on Tožbar’s land in 1926. Most probably, he named the garden after his wife Julia (Giulia Olga Ganzoni, 1876-1925), who sadly died just prior to the garden's opening. On about 2,500 m²

of land he constructed a private garden under the July peaks which, according to his great friend Dr Julius Kugy, represented a "botanical journey from the valley to a peak in the Julian Alps." Plants were to follow each other as in nature in vegetation belts, from plants of the Alpine valleys to the popular high-altitude flora. After the capitulation of Italy (1943), the garden was unfortunately no longer accessible to him. The Natural History Museum of Slovenia was entrusted to manage Juliana on 1 January 1962.

Credits:

Concept: Klemen Završnik, Martina Tekavec

Text: Klemen Završnik

Photo: Archive of the Bois de Chesne family, Tone Wraber, Klemen Završnik

Drawings: Samo Jenčič (dwarf Zoisy) in Carl Huck (Goldhorn)

Voice: Teja Malovrh Cigale

Reviewer: Špela Pungaršek

Language Editor: Henrik Ciglič

Sound editing: David Kunc

Slovenian Museum of Natural History, 2021

Natural History Museum of Slovenia, 2021