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Karl
Faust
Memorial
Passeig
Cortils
i
Vieta,
9,
17300
Blanes,
Girona
Karl
Faust
(born
September
10,
1874
in
Hadamar,
Germany
-
died
April
24,
1952
in
Blanes,
La
Selva,
Spain)
was
a
German
businessman
and
patron
of
science.
Despite
showing
a
preoccupation
with
the
natural
sciences
from
a
very
early
age,
his
parents
thought
it
would
be
convenient
for
him
to
study
business
so
that
he
could
make
a
good
living
and
they
could
devote
themselves
to
caring
for
their
other
siblings.
However,
having
passed
the
age
of
fifty,
he
decided
to
regain
the
fantasy
of
his
youth
and
devote
himself
to
science.
He
invested
in
a
botanical
garden
that
also
served
as
a
center
of
research
and
education
for
Europeans
from
central
and
northern
parts
of
the
continent,
who
would
find
in
Blanes
favorable
conditions
for
the
growth
of
many
plants
in
its
arid
and
tropical
climate.
In
their
country
of
origin,
they
can
only
be
grown
in
greenhouses.
In
the
garden
he
named
it
Marimurtra,
combining
in
one
word
myrtle,
one
of
the
typical
Mediterranean
plants
that
grow
in
these
lands,
with
the
Mediterranean
Sea
that
bathes
the
foot
of
the
garden.
Carl
Faust,
founder
of
the
Marimurtra
Botanical
Garden,
was
born
in
1874
in
Hadamar,
a
small
town
near
Frankfurt
am
Main.
His
birthplace
is
still
preserved
in
a
street
named
after
him.
Although
he
showed
an
obvious
interest
in
the
natural
sciences
from
an
early
age,
his
family
pushed
him
towards
business
activities,
which
brought
him
to
Barcelona,
where
he
founded
with
his
partners
the
firm
Faust
&
Kaufmann,
S.A.,
which
It
still
exists
today.
His
love
for
naturalism
was
never
forgotten,
which
led
him
to
search
for
the
ideal
location
to
create
a
botanical
garden.
He
chose
Blanes
and,
in
1924
at
the
age
of
50,
resigned
from
management
of
the
company
to
devote
himself
entirely
to
consolidating
the
Marimurtra
Botanic
Gardens.
Faust
was
a
humanist
influenced
by
the
thoughts
of
his
compatriot
Goethe.
He
wanted
to
do
something
beneficial
to
mankind.
Furthermore,
he
felt
an
impulse
for
the
lands
of
the
Mediterranean,
the
classical
world,
and
dreamed
of
creating
an
"Epicurean
Republic
of
young
biologists"
where
scholars
and
students
could
"live
in
an
interesting
garden,
an
ideal
climate
and
a
Greek
landscape"
".
He
began
organizing
gardens
and
cultivating
exotic
plants
with
the
advice
of
leading
European
and
Catalan
botanists:
Josias
Braun-Blanquet,
Eric
Sventenius,
Pius
Font
i
Quer,
Carlos
Pau,
Josep
Cuatrecasas
and
others.
From
early
on,
he
worked
to
help
young
scientists
who
would
work
in
the
gardens
and
in
his
laboratory,
such
as
Ramon
Margalef,
who
would
become
a
world
leader
in
marine
ecology.
A
rare
avis
in
the
Catalan
scientific
community,
his
performance
as
a
patron
was
also
reflected
in
the
excursion
he
organized
in
1934
to
SIGMA
(International
Geographical
Station
Mediterranean
and
Alps),
the
Sociology
of
Plants
in
Catalonia
the
beginning
of.
Equally
notable
was
his
altruism,
which
was
particularly
prominent
during
the
Spanish
Civil
War
(1936-39)
and
World
War
II
(1939-45).
Faust
died
on
24
April
1952
at
his
home
in
Marimurtra,
Blanes.
He
is
buried
in
the
town's
cemetery
and
there
is
a
bronze
statue
commemorating
him
on
the
town's
waterfront.
