- Jardin des Plantes
The Jardin des Plantes is the main
botanical garden inFrance . It is situated in the 5ème arrondissement,Paris , on the left bank of the riverSeine . It covers 28 hectares (280,000 m²).Garden plan
The "
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle " is situated within the garden. It is made up of four galleries: the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution, theMineralogy Museum, thePaleontology Museum and theEntomology Museum. In addition to the gardens there is also anaquarium and a smallzoo , founded in 1795 byBernardin de Saint-Pierre from animals of the royalmenagerie atVersailles .The Jardin des Plantes maintains a botanical school, which trains botanists, constructs demonstration gardens, and exchanges seeds to maintain biotic diversity. About 4500 plants are arranged by family on a one hectare (10,000 m²) plot.
Three hectares are devoted to horticultural displays of decorative plants. An Alpine garden has 3000 species with world-wide representation. Specialized buildings, such as a large
Art Deco wintergarden , and Mexican and Australian hothouses display regional plants, not native to France. The Rose Garden, created in 1990, has hundreds of species ofrose s and rose trees.History
The garden was originally planted by
Guy de La Brosse , Louis XIII's physician, in 1626 as a medicinal herb garden. It was originally known as the Jardin du Roi. In 1640 it opened to the public.After a period of decline,
Jean-Baptiste Colbert took administrative control of the gardens. Dr.Guy Crescent Fagon was appointed in 1693, and he surrounded himself with a team of brilliant botanists, includingJoseph Pitton de Tournefort ,Antoine de Jussieu ,Antoine Laurent de Jussieu and his son Adrien-Henri.The Comte de Buffon became the curator in 1739 and he expanded the gardens greatly, adding a
maze , the Labyrinth, which remains today. In 1792 the Royal Menagerie was moved to the gardens fromVersailles .Access
57, rue Cuvier, Paris, France Tel: +33 1 40 79 30 00
External links
* [http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/foffice/tous/tous/GuideDecouverte/lieuxVisiter/LieuxAVisiter/FLieuAVisiter.xsp?AE_ID=214&INFO_ID=21&LIEU_ID=158&MAN_ID=273&SITE_ID=10&idx=1&nav=liste Official site] fr icon
* [http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/foffice/tous/tous/guidePratique/infPratiques/infopratique/fiche_info.xsp?LIEU_ID=158&SITE_ID=10&idx=4&nav=liste Official site] en icon
* [http://www.tripfilms.com/Travel_Video-v42-Paris-Menagerie_du_Jardin_des_Plantes-Video.html Video on the Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes]
* [http://paris1900.lartnouveau.com/paris05/jardin_des_plantes/le_jardin_des_plantes_actuel.htm Jardin des Plantes] Stroll photos
* [http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=jardin%20des%20plantes&w=all Flickr] Mostly Paris Jardin des Plantes some others.
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