This year also marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the founder and the centenary of the Marimurtra Botanical Garden
Every April 24, the Carl Faust Foundation commemorates the anniversary of the death of the creator of the cross, Carl Faust. This year, the Foundation has organized a series of events for this Wednesday that will remember the spirit of effort and passion for botany of its founder. This 2024, the celebration is triple since it also celebrates the centenary of the Marimurtra Botanical Garden and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Carl Faust.
The events began in the morning with a floral offering at Faust’s tomb, in the Blanes cemetery, with the attendance of several members of the board of trustees of the Carl Faust Foundation and the Marimurtra Botanical Garden team. Subsequently, a floral offering was carried out at the statue of Carl Faust located on the Passeig de Mar in Blanes, in which the mayor of Blanes, Il·lm. Mr. Jordi Hernández, the councilor for the Environment, Parks and Gardens, Mr. Jaume Frigola, the 3rd grade students of the Carles Faust school in Blanes, with a teacher and the school principal, Carles Martín. The students presented the different members of the event with a personalized school pen, and the Carl Faust Foundation thanked the students for their participation by giving them a bookmark from the centenary of the Marimurtra Botanical Garden.
On the occasion of this symbolic event, the board of trustees recalled “the founding values of the Marimurtra Botanical Garden and its creator, who designed a garden of world reference”, and added that “these foundations can serve as a model for working on current aspects such as the reuse of water, ecology and the conservation of biodiversity”.
On the occasion of this day dedicated to the memory of Carl Faust, the Foundation that bears his name has begun to unveil some of the centenary commemoration events that will take place next year. Among others, the launch of the “Marimurtríssim” Family Botanical Festival stands out, the presentation of several exhibitions at the Blanes Regional Library and different municipal exhibition halls, the holding of conferences to mark the centenary, book presentations from the Foundation’s own publishing house “Edicions de Marimurtra” and a special edition of Science Week at the end of the year.
It is one hundred years since Carl Faust created a botanical garden on the first cliffs of the Costa Brava to offer it to science and scientists. He created a place where plants and life could be studied. One hundred years later, the Carl Faust Foundation continues to manage the Marimurtra Botanical Garden, maintaining its botanical collection and making it available for research, conservation and scientific dissemination. All this, while facing the new challenges posed by the modern management of biodiversity and climate change. In short, it continues to realize the dream to which Carl Faust dedicated his heritage and his life.
The Carl Faust Foundation was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2009 and the Marimurtra Botanical Garden is classified as a Cultural Asset of National Interest by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Carl Faust Chronology
1874 > Carl Faust is born in Hadamar (Germany)
1918 > He begins to buy land on the mountain of Sant Joan de Blanes – orchards and vineyards devastated by phylloxera – with the idea of turning them into his dream: a botanical garden.
1921 > Faust has the house built that is the heart of the Botanical Garden and the Foundation. A work by the Noucentista architect Josep Goday that is currently the welcoming point for visitors to the Botanical Garden
1924 > Faust turns 50 and decides to dedicate the rest of his life to completing his dream, the creation of a botanical garden at the service of science and scientists.
1927 > Carl Faust moves to live in Blanes, from where he will never leave again, except for the period of the Civil War.
1936 > The Spanish Civil War surprises Faust while he is on holiday in Germany, preventing him from returning to Blanes until it is over. He has just begun the construction of one of the most iconic elements of Marimurtra, the Linnaeus temple, the work of Josep Goday.
1940 > The construction of the Linnaeus temple is completed.
1943 > He meets the scientist Ramon Margalef.
1951 > Faust creates the Carl Faust Foundation, based in Blanes, to continue his work.
1952 > He dies in the house of the Marimurtra Botanical Garden on April 24. He is buried in the Blanes cemetery.