The Botanical Gardens ”Botan”
The Botanical Gardens in Lund are a fantastic oasis and popular destination for the residents of Lund and tourists alike. The botanical gardens are owned and managed by Lund University
There have been academy gardens in Lund ever since the end of the 17th century. Initially located on the site of the present-day university. In the middle of the 18th century, Carl Hårleman’s proposal for new botanical gardens was adopted on the same site. It included an orangery, arboretum as well as plantation activities. In addition to teachings in medicine, the gardens were intended to cultivate and spread knowledge about economically important plants. Most well-known is Eric Lidbeck’s cultivation of some 50,000 mulberry trees for the production of Swedish silk.
The gardens continued to operate on the same site until the 1860’s, but eventually were moved to their present location located at Tornalyckan, east of the city wall, where the university had had access to the land since 1815. In 1865, planting began in the new greenhouses and three years later, the gardens boasted some 6,000 different species.
In the northwest corner of the gardens stands the building that still bears the name Agardhianum, which was completed in 1867. These were the premises of the first botanical institute in Lund. In the area adjacent to the greenhouses stands a small coalhouse (dating probably from 1862). In 1889-1891, the new institute building was completed in the south and in 1913, the botanical museum was built
Two bronze busts depicting father and son Agardh can be found in the gardens. Jacob George Agardh was the driving force behind the construction of the current Botanical Gardens. He was the son of botany professor Carl Adolph Agardh. Both were prominent researchers of algae.
The botanical gardens extend over an area of 8 hectares. Out in the open areas, thousands of species and varieties of plants can be found. From 1975, Lund University’s Botanical Gardens were declared a national monument and should “receive special and appropriate care”.
Text: Annika André