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.

 

 

Listen to the dwarf Zois

Credits

Concept: Klemen Završnik, Martina Tekavec
Text: Klemen Završnik
Photo: arhiv družine Bois de Chesne, Tone Wraber, Klemen Završnik
Drawings: Samo Jenčič (škrat Cojzek) in Carl Huck (Zlatorog)
Voice: Teja Malovrh Cigale
Reviewer: Špela Pungaršek
Language Editor: Henrik Ciglič
Sound editing: David Kunc

Slovenian Museum of Natural History, 2021

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