Sežana’s most treasured sight – its botanical garden

The garden of family called Scaramanga

10. april 2016 ob 5.50 • Sežana - MMC RTV SLO

The park is protected as a horticultural monument. It is of great aesthetic, cultural and historic value. Photo: Komunalno stanovanjsko podjetje Sežana

One of the most precious places in Sežana is its botanical park, yet few Slovenians have heard of it. The garden was designed a century and a half ago by a wealthy merchant family called Scaramanga, and still boast plants imported from various places of the world. The park is protected as a horticultural monument, since it is of great aesthetic, cultural and historic value.

The year 1848 – the course of history is forever marked by the Spring of Nations. Bourgeois revolutions in some places, budding new ideas that would stay alive into the 21^st century in others. A walk through Sežana’s botanical garden reveals the new ideas of that era, and takes us to various parts of the world. Meticulous and persistent planting of saplings that sailors working for the wealthy merchant family of Scaramanga had brought from all over the world, is a testament to the love of nature. It is therefore not surprising that the estate’s owners mostly hired locals who knew the soil of Karst better than anyone.

The original appearance of the park slowly changed through time. Numerous paths lead through it today, enabling the visitor to admire mighty trees that have braved rough weather conditions. To make sure plants would survive the bora wind as well as frost, a palmarium was erected on the outskirts of the park. The garden covers a hectare and a half of land, and hosts 198 woody plants as well as more than a hundred different species of exotic pot plants.