page_title: Miramare Castle
section_title: Miramare after 1867
hierarchical_section_title: Miramare Castle / History / Miramare after 1867
caption_attribution_description: Castello Miramare interior
context_page_description: Miramare Castle is a 19th-century castle direct on the Gulf of Trieste between Barcola and Grignano near Trieste, northeastern Italy. It was built from 1856 to 1860 for Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium, later Emperor Maximilian I and Empress Carlota of Mexico, based on a design by Carl Junker.
  The castle's grounds include an extensive cliff and seashore park of 22 hectares designed by the archduke. The grounds were completely re-landscaped to feature numerous tropical species of trees and plants.
context_section_description: After the death of Maximilian I in Mexico in June 1867 and Charlotte’s departure for Belgium, the castle and the park continued to be a place where the Habsburgs spent short periods.
  Already in September 1882 the Emperor Franz Joseph with Elisabeth of Austria and the heir to the throne Rudolf with his consort Stéphanie of Belgium, stayed in Miramare during an official visit to Trieste and gave receptions for the notables of the city. In August 1885 the Archduchess Stéphanie stayed there for a few days. Between 1869 and 1896, the Empress Elisabeth is recorded as having stayed there on at least fourteen occasions. On March 22, 1900, Stéphanie of Belgium – Charlotte’s niece and Rudolf’s widow – chose the chapel of the castle for her second marriage to the Hungarian noble Elemér de Lónyay. From March 9 to April 11, 1914, the heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand lived in the castle with his wife and sons and gave hospitality to the German Emperor William; two months later the archduke was assassinated at Sarajevo. Worthy of note is also the visit of the last Emperor Charles and his wife Zita.
  During the First World War all the furniture and works of art belonging to the castle were moved to Vienna and stored in the Schönbrunn and Belvedere Palaces and in the court libraries. At the end of the war the whole territory of Miramare passed under the direct control of the Italian government. Between October 1925 and March 1926, by mutual consent of the two governments, Austria returned all the furnishings in order to make possible the reconstruction of the castle’s original interior. The restoration of the furnishings and rooms, under the direction of the Royal Superintendence, meant that the museum could be opened to the public on March 24, 1929.
  Two years later the government assigned Miramare to Duke Amedeo of Aosta, captain of the first air division stationed in Gorizia, who lived there continuously till 1937 when he was appointed viceroy of Ethiopia. The castle was also inhabited off and on by the Duke’s family until the middle of 1943.
  Nonetheless, the visitors were allowed access to the upper part of the park and, from 1931, to the Castelletto, furnished with Archduke Maximilian’s fittings which had not formed part of the Duke of Aosta’s furnishings. Afterwards the castle was used as a school for officers by the German troops who occupied the city. As a result of the opposition of the Gauleiter Friedrich Rainer to the conversion of the castle into a Nazi headquarters the building was saved from the possible danger of bombardment. In the meantime, the furnishings had been removed and were kept in various buildings in the city.
  At the end of 1945, the New Zealand troops under the command of the General Freyberg entered Trieste and settled in the castle, making many changes to the interior. The British troops followed, and set up the headquarters of XIII Corps in Miramare. Finally the Americans came and the castle served as headquarters for the American garrison Trieste United States Troops (TRUST) from 1947 to October 3, 1954. The Superintendence immediately began the work of restoration of the interior of the castle and the Castelletto and the layout of the park. On the basis of drawings and period photographs, wood decorations were restored in the rooms and furniture, furnishings, pictures and tapestries were rearranged.
  Finally, in March 1955, the park was reopened free of charge to the public and from June 2 of the same year, Maximilian’s residence was named the Historical Museum of Miramare Castle and entrusted to the Sopraintendenza per i Beni Architettonici ed il Paesaggio e per il Patrimonio Storico, Artistico ed Etnoantropologico of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Over the years it has become an attraction for thousands of tourists interested in experiencing full immersion in one of the very few examples of European historical residences which have preserved almost entirely their original furnishings and which, still today, transmit the charm of living around the middle of the Nineteenth century.
caption: Castello Miramare interior.
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