Park square on Slatina

Slatina is one of the most significant parts of the town and is situated within the borders of protection of the cultural-historical entirety. Its recognisability is enhanced by the garden square with the fountain. It has benches which enable staying and enjoyment in one of the most beautiful views in Opatija - the coastal promenade, Opatija’s largest beach, the sea and the city of Rijeka in the distance. The garden can be experienced when walking along the coastal promenade and from the surrounding hotels, while it is separated from the gas station, the bus station, and the parking lot with a tall hedge.

It is of irregular oval shape, surfacing around 1,800 m2. It was founded in the first half of the 20th century, around 1937, as a public space. The lateral sides of the garden are accentuated with tall trees: the southern corner is dominated by an impressive specimen of a large-flower magnolia and a pinia tree, while in the opposite corner a Himalayan cedar and pinia stand out. The seaming tall hedges consist of laurel and pittosporum, while around the fountain there is a low floor combining grass and flower-beds with seasonal flower, seamed with low cut box-tree.

Based on the 2006 plant inventory of the company Parkovi d.o.o. there are 12 plant species, among which the following are found: Cedrus deodara (Himalayan cedar), Cedrus deodara “Pendula” (hanging Himalayan cedar), Magnolia grandiflora (large-flower magnolia) and Pinus pinea (Italian stone pine).

The garden square on Slatina was envisaged in the 1920s as a low floor space, symmetrically shaped, with a fountain, in the style of the-then dominating Modernism (circular pillars around a bronze statue). But that solution was not realized, and instead a free concept of a field with a fountain was designed which, conforming to the historicist shaping of Opatija’s gardens, is surrounded by a low box-tree hedge. The initial shape of the garden has basically been kept until present day.

The garden is equally attractive both in summer and in winter, by day or night, which makes it one of the most photographed motives, and with the camellias, a symbol of Opatija as well.