The Foundation named after Marimurtra’s founder was created in Blanes by means of a notarial deed in 1951. Faust established a board of trustees and entrusted them with the responsibility of keeping up his botanical garden and continuing his scientific work. In accordance with his internationalist ideas, the first trustees included German, Spanish, Swiss and British citizens. One of them was the renowned Catalan botanist Pius Font i Quer, Faust’s friend and main adviser.
The Foundation is member of the Institució Catalana d’Història Natural (Catalan Institute of Natural History) and the Sociedad Española de Biología de Conservación de Plantas (Spanish Society of Plant Conservation Biology).
In 2009 it was awarded the “Creu de Sant Jordi” given by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
According to its statutes, the Foundation aims specifically to:
- Enlarge the Garden’s collections of living plants by occupying the land belonging to it to the most appropriate extent;
- Enlarge its herbaria and library materials;
- Maintain –and adapt if necessary– the laboratories and the metereological observatory and add other facilities which may be necessary for scientific research;
- In general, constitute a first-class centre for botanical research open to international cooperation; and
- Contribute to the dissemination of botanical knowledge and its importance in the biosphere as a whole.
The Foundation is managed by a board of trustees formed by people of different nationalities and professions and organised in various working groups. It also has an executive committee allowing fast decision making and a management body.
Fully aware of the peculiarities of the current times, in which the speeding up of the disappearance of plant species due to antropic factors is evident, and understanding the importance of the botanical gardens in its management and preservation, the Board of Trustees has resolved to turn Marimurtra into a centre dedicated to conservation and scientific research especially in the Western Mediterranean region, encouraging civic awareness of the urgent need to preserve the Earth’s green mantle. Moreover, it wants the Garden to be an ideal venue to organise social or cultural activities for the people and institutions of the country.