Gardone Botanical Garden

Alpinum

Palm forest

The Botanical Garden Gardone is located in the region of Lombardy in the province of Brescia and is located in the town of Gardone Riviera on Via Roma. The complex is now owned by the Austrian real estate investor Günter Kerbler and is open to the public between March and October every year.

geography

The approximately 1.5 hectare garden is located in the northern center in Gardone west of the Gardesana Occidentale . The garden slopes slightly to the southeast and consists of ice age moraine remains. These were structured by extensive earthworks, so that ideal conditions for a wide variety of plants, from a simple lawn to the alpine, resulted.

History and description

The beginnings of the garden go back to the second decade in the 20th century. The dentist and botanist Arthur Hruska (1880–1971) laid the centerpiece for this garden between 1910 and 1914, which was created from a vineyard and an olive grove. In doing so he was pursuing his botanical dream of creating a world garden . Over the years he repeatedly planted new exotic plants, created artificial mountains in the center of the garden; Streams fed by surrounding springs have been expanded into a network of many ponds and small lakes. These landscapes were created as close to nature as possible and offer visitors a harmonious place to enjoy. After Arthur Hruska's death, the garden lost its importance and only regained the attention it deserved 17 years later, after it was taken over by the André Heller Foundation . Since 1988 the Fondazione Heller has been cultivating the garden with its over 2000 species of plants, supplemented by contemporary sculptures that blend harmoniously into the landscape. In the garden you can find works by Roy Lichtenstein , Keith Haring , Susanne Schmögner , Erwin Novak , Edgar Tezak , Rudolf Hirt and, of course, works by André Heller himself. In 2014 the Italian foundation "Fondazione Andre Heller" sold the sculpture garden to the Austrian one Real estate investor Günter Kerbler, but the park will continue to be run under the Heller brand.