[2] The park was opened in 1794[3] under the initiative of the man for whom it was named, Bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac of Zagreb (1752–1827).

The remainder of the original forest survives as a girdle to the park, the area in total measuring above 1,005 acres (4.07 km2).

[2] As one of the earliest public parks, it followed the principles laid out by the gardening theorist Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld.

[5] Haulik's vision was very much in line with Biedermeierist notions, and romantic neoclassicism, with elements from historicism; and in emulation of the park at the Laxenburg estate of the Habsburgs.

The process of transforming Maksimir Park involved the felling of the forest interior, the grading of hills, the excavating of great holes for lakes, the laying of paths, and construction of bridges.