House <y Garden 
THE GARDENS OF CASTLE MIRAMAR 
NEAR TRIESTE, AUSTRIA 
THE PROPERTY OF HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY FRANCTS JOSEPH I 
BY H. LOWE 
VIEWS FROM THE TERRACE OF MIRAMAR 
S IX miles northwest of the city of Trieste, 
upon a sloping headland, thickly wooded 
with fir and pine and overlooking the blue 
Adriatic, stands the castle of Miramar. The 
building and its park are the creation of 
Prince Ferdinand - Joseph - Maximilian, 
brother of the emperor of Austria. The 
promontory comprising the site was formerly 
a barren and uneven waste, but its beautiful 
situation at the northern extremity of an 
inland bay, sheltered from the northeast 
wind by the mountains, won the fancy of the 
Prince; and at an expenditure of two million 
dollars, not to mention a deal of personal 
energy, he converted the wild region into an 
ideal abode, especially appropriate, by reason 
of its commanding position, lor the habitation 
of a ruler. Commenced in the year 1856, 
Schloss Miramar was completed in i860, 
when it became the permanent residence of 
Prince Maximilian and his wife, until the ill- 
advised offer of a throne in Mexico induced 
them to leave the E.den of their making. On 
the 10th of April, 1864, the Prince solemnly 
accepted at Miramar the title of Emperor of 
Mexico. The same day he treated with an 
agent of Napoleon, regarding the quartering 
of French troops in that country, and signed 
the historic “convention of Miramar.” 
Soon afterward the Prince and Princess 
147 
CASTLE MIRAMAR FROM THE ADRIATIC 
