The Gardener King: The Gardens of Philip II

We tend to think of Philip II as the king of the chancery, of maps and affairs of state. But he was also a passionate lover of gardens: he planned them, followed their progress closely and made them an essential part of his residences.

In this talk, Jesús Moraime reveals this other side of the monarch and the legacy he left at Aranjuez, El Escorial and other Royal Sites. He will also discuss the gardeners Philip II brought to Spain and how, through them, the Flemish and Italian traditions found their way into our gardens.

A stroll through the history of Spanish gardening, seen through the eyes of a king who, besides governing, made gardens.

Jesús Moraime

A landscape architect trained at the Castillo de Batres School, Jesús Moraime is also an artist and a many-sided entrepreneur.

For thirty years he has designed and built gardens in both city and countryside, reinterpreting the Iberian garden tradition for the present day. His work is distinguished by its balance of architecture and landscape, its layered division of space, its use of water and an intimate knowledge of Iberian flora.

A long-standing interest in the history of gardens has led him into the conservation, restoration and extension of historic gardens and from there into teaching.  He lectures on garden history and leads garden tours around the world.

His parallel career in photography has produced two books, Dan Graham’s Dahka Pavilion and Jardins de Lisboa, as well as exhibitions in Madrid and Lisbon.

His love of the land took him to La Vera, in the province of Cáceres, where he breeds Cachena cattle and has built a group of country houses for rent (www.casasdelnaval.com).

In 2007 he began restoring historic buildings in Portugal as hotels, a venture that bore fruit in 2011 with the opening of Baixa House in Lisbon: fourteen apartments, each inspired by the gardens of the city (www.baixahouse.com).

His most recent project is Massarelos House, a hotel in Porto that opened at the end of 2023 (www.massareloshouse.com).