BERLIN-DAHLEM BOTANICAL GARDEN

The Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden including the Botanical Museum is a unique botanical garden in Berlin, Germany.  It has an area of 43 hectares and around 22,000 different plant species. It was constructed between 1897 and 1910, under the guidance of architect Adolf Engler, in order to present exotic plants returned from German colonies. The garden is located in the Lichterfelde, earlier it was in Dahlem of Berlin. It is also the part of Free University, Berlin. The botanical museum called “Botanisches Museum” along with a beautiful herbarium (Herbarium Berolinense) is attached to the garden. The garden has a good library too.

            The garden consists of several scientific buildings and Glass houses.  Cactus Pavilion and Pavilion Victoria are eminent among them, with numerous orchids, carnivorous plants and Giant white Lily (Victoria seerosen). The total area of all glass-houses is 6,000 m². The garden's open-air areas, sorted by geographical origin, have a total area of 13 hectares. The garden's arboretum is 14 hectares. The best-known part of the garden is the Great Pavilion (Das Große Tropenhaus). The temperature inside is maintained at 30 °C and air humidity is kept high. Among the many tropical plants it hosts a giant bamboo.

            The history behind this beautiful garden is very interesting. The first pillar was setup by a farm gardener, Desiderius Corbianus in the year 1973 as a kitchen-fruits garden. It was the first botanic garden in old Berlin city. In 1679 at the Potsdamer Street – in place of the present Heinrich-von-Kleist- park – a hop garden was laid out, which was used, as a purpose of the electoral brewery, as a fruits- and kitchen garden. Carl Ludwig Willdenow has reached, that the garden was assigned in 1809 the Berlin University, which developed worldwide to a recognized “Botanic Garden” with a scientific character.        First stimuli to move the Botanic Garden appeared in 1888, given because of the need, to expand the plantings and to set out an arboretum. Besides many of the old greenhouses would have needed a reconstruction. In 1879 the herbarium in the old Botanical garden gained its own building and had now the possibility to present its collectors’ items to the public. In 1907, the museum gained a considerably bigger exhibition space on three floors. These were used for expanding exhibitions about geobotany and paleobotany. In 1910, the Adolf Engler, reconstructed the present garden & museum.

The layout of the garden is very beautiful. The largest part of the grounds is covered by the geographical section (12.9 ha) and the arboretum (13.9 ha). The geographical section is situated just west of the main path and surrounds the Italienischer Garten (Italian garden), which lies just opposite the exhibition green houses. The southern and western parts of the gardens are taken up by the arboretum, a comprehensive and methodical collection of native plants. The arboretum borders the ponds. The north western area of the gardens are the place of herbaceous plants and medical plants. East part is the famous for the water and marsh bed. A large water basin was heated for the tropical marsh flora.  Garden has many unique features. Through the years, numerous pieces of art have been erected in the gardens, especially in the Italienischer Schmuckgarten (Italian Decorative Garden). In 1879 the herbarium in the old Botanical garden gained its own building and had now the possibility to present its collectors’ items to the public. A year later an exhibition was introduced. The exhibition’s aim was to teach visitors who were not skilled in this topic. This was the first prequel of the Botanical Museum. There is a small cemetery called Königin-Luise-Platz in the Green house complex of the garden.