an exhibition in Liegnitz Henrieta Chotek was so impressed by a rambling rose cultivar named "Fragezeichen" (Question Mark) presented by Johannes Böttner, that she left for Frankfurt as soon as the congress was over in order to be able to admire the new rose culvitars in all their splendor. In 1910, after Rudolf Geschwind's death, countess Chotek acquired his entire collection of roses, thus ensuring the preservation of the genetic patrimony created by Geschwindt. She sent two of her employees to supervise the packing and transportation of the roses, which were thereafter transplanted to a special section of her rosarium. She thus acquired over 2,000 plants, including some cultivars which had not yet been on the market. It is due to those efforts that some of Geschwind's creations are present in Sangerhausen and other today's rosaria. The Dolná Krupá rosarium was a pride of the Union of German Friends of Roses, and, in 1914, at the Rose Congress of Zweibrücken, rosarian Hermann Kiese presented an enthusiastic description of the rosarium which he had visited a short time before. The Zweibrücken Congress was the last major event organized by the Union and a recognition of Countess Chotek's achievements. Only a few days after the closure of the congress, on June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary's crownprince and his wife Sophie (Marie Henrieta's cousin) were Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Saraevo. This marked not only the beginning of World War I but also the end of an era. From this moment, countess Chotek's and her rosarium's fates started their inexorable decline. During World War I, countess Chotek gave up her gardening and worked as a nurse, taking care of wounded soldiers, working in the hospital of Tyrnau (now Trnava). When she returned to her estate, at the end of the war, her rosarium was completely destroyed. The Austro-Hungarian monarchy had ceased to exist, Unter Krompach was not called Alsókorompa but had taken the name of Dolná Krupá and the little village was now part of Czechoslovakia. Decline of the Dolná Krupá rosarium After the end of the war, countess Marie Henrieta Chotek started to work on rebuilding her rosarium. But, after the war, the number of those interested in roses or who could afford such an activity had dramatically declined. In order to revive the interest for the roses she loved so dearly, besides working on her rosarium,