Trsteno Arboretum 🇭🇷

Situated in the southern Croatian settlement of Trsteno, the Trsteno Arboretum is a historic Mediterranean botanical garden recognized for its unique landscape design. It stands out among historic Ragusan and Dalmatian parks, covering a protected landscape area of approximately 255,000 square meters.

The site originated in the late fifteenth century under the local noble Gucetic-Gozze family, who instructed returning ship captains to bring back exotic flora and seeds from overseas voyages. An aqueduct measuring 15 meters in span was built around 1492 to provide irrigation for the estate, and it remains operational today. The complex includes Croatia's oldest Renaissance park, designed in 1502 around a fifteenth-century summer mansion, as well as a nineteenth-century park section located at Drvarica. The estate transitioned to state ownership in 1945 and was given to the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1948, the same year it was designated a natural rarity. The Academy has managed the property since 1950, and it gained official status as a protected landscape architecture monument in 1962.

Over the course of its recent history, the arboretum experienced significant destruction. Conflict in October 1991 led to fires and artillery strikes that damaged the estate, the historic residence, and its oldest foliage. A subsequent forest fire during a drought in 2000 consumed roughly 120,000 square meters of the grounds. Despite these events, two prominent Oriental Planes standing in the central town square avoided harm. These trees are over 500 years old, measure 45 to 60 meters in height with five-meter-wide trunks, and are considered singular specimens across Europe.

Visitors to the arboretum can observe a diverse array of exotic vegetation arranged throughout its historical grounds and around the former noble villa. The garden's scenic walkways and coastal architecture also gained widespread recognition when they served as the filming location for the palace gardens of King's Landing during the third and fourth seasons of the television show Game of Thrones.