aristocratic family. Sophie Chotek, wife of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, was a cousin of Maria Henrietta's. Herman Chotek died in 1822. In the following years, the estate stayed in the possession of the counts Chotek, first Herman's son, Rudolf Chotek, and thereafter Maria Henrietta Chotek (1863–1945). Maria Henrietta Chotek and the beginning of the Dolná Krupá rose garden Countess Maria Henrietta Chotek was born on November 24, 1863. Maria Henrietta was a lonely person. She never married and though she was very wealthy and was part of the Austro-Hungarian high aristocracy she never wanted to go to the imperial court, even after her cousin had married the Crown prince. Maria Henrietta enjoyed her residence in Dolná Krupá where she could devote all her time to her only passion: growing roses. For a long time after her death, villagers remembered her as a friendly person, fluent in the local Slovak, who participated to village festivities where she dressed in local clothes. Countess Maria Henrietta participated in local charities, generously supporting orphans and abandoned children. In the 1890s, when she inherited the Dolna Krupa estate, she decided to create a rosarium in the mansion's park, able to compete with the major rose gardens of the such as the Roseraie de L'Haÿ in France and Rosarium of Sangerhausen (at present called Europa Rosarium) in Germany. She was personally involved in breeding her roses and carried out experiments of improving rose species and developing new cultivars. Well known rosarians such as Peter Lambert, Wilhelm Kordes, Hermann Kiese, Johannes Böttner und Rudolf Geschwind were proud of being her friends and appreciated not only her competence but her unselfish help. In 1909 Pope Pius X awarded her a diploma of appreciation. Countess Chotek was an important member of the Verein Deutscher Rosenfreunde – VDR (Union of German Friends of Roses), which had been created in 1903. She actively participated in various congresses of rose-breeders, where her rosarium was seen as one of the first three in Europe. In 1910, at the Liegnitz (today Legnica in Silesia) congress, count Carl Friedrich von Pückler-Burghauss, mentioned the three rosaria by stating: "Today chains of roses link Germany with France and Austria-Hungary". Countess Marie Henrieta Chotek was known as the "countess of roses". She is still mentioned under this name in works on the history of rose breeding. Her enthusiasm regarding roses was remarkable. Peter Lambert states that during