Botanical garden

More than 6000 species of plants, over 3.5 ha in the city centre

The Botanical Institute’s garden covers some 3.5 ha. and is both a pleasant place to walk in and an important botanical reserve, containing some 6000 plant species.

It was installed in 1884, within the campus of the German Imperial University, replacing the original botanical garden, which was founded in 1619, and destroyed in 1870. The new garden was designed by architect Hermann Eggert, in keeping with the scientific programme drawn up by Professor Anton de Bary. The garden originally featured a large greenhouse, next to la rue Goethe, but this was demolished in 1963 and replaced by the Botanical Institute, which stands out from the homogeneity of the original German campus through its (what was then) modern design.

Theme-based collections and a greenhouse listed as a historical monument

The garden includes a number of theme-based collections over its 3.5 ha. On the western, or botanical-school side, the plants are organised didactically, in accordance with their official classification. On the other side of the Astronomical Observatory, in its eastern part, the garden becomes an arboretum. High groundwater between the 2 sections has been used to cultivate aquatic flora.

The garden features a cold greenhouse and a tropical one with exotic plants, in addition to the 12-sided pagoda-shaped Victoriahaus, or Victoria greenhouse, which was specially designed to house the giant Victoria amazonica or Victoria regia waterlily. Restored in 1993, it is now known as the Bary greenhouse and is one of the few remaining metal-frame greenhouses from the last century.