View of the Italian Garden and the Castle

Post card issued ca. 1920, depicting the eastern facade of the castle with the Italian Garden in front of it, designed by Genovese architect and graphic artist Albert Pio, and created after the old chestnut trees were cut down in 1899. The garden has a concave shape akin to a Roman hippodrome. Its prime decoration are two fountains in round basins, as well as sculptures brought from Rome by count Roman Potocki at the end of the 19th century. The first of these is the Napoleonic eagle, brought from the garden of the Villa Borghese. Its marble figure was placed on a tall, granite column. The second one is a marble Bacchus on a panther, set upon a sandstone base. Beside them , the garden was adorned with 19th century porcelain and limestone vases as well as faïence stools. The porcelain vases are decorated with genre scenes, parchment scrolls and fantastic plants made in cobalt. They were not original Chinese products but European imitations made to resemble Chinese pots. The lime stone vases, in the form of chalice-like craters, were decorated with semi-graphical garlands. They were set upon tall masonry pillars of rectangular panels, with concave recesses. The stools, originally from France, were decorated with putty in a celadon-blue coat. They were made by the Emile Miller company of Paris. Joanna Kluz