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The Garden |
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History |
Botanical Gardens |
Behaviour |
Garden Map
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Stjepan Spevec |
Antun Heinz |
Bohuslav Jirus |
Viteslav Durchanek |
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The need
to found a botanical garden in Zagreb was mooted in
1876 by the then rector of the University, Professor
S. Spevec, giving at the same time enormous support
to Professor B. Jirus, who attempted to put this
idea into practice. Jirus carried out many of the
preliminary operations, but in 1886 he had to return to
Prague. Professor A. Heinz succeeded him in the
chair of botany, and in 1889 the Royal National Government
assigned him the task of drawing up a plan and laying out
the botanical garden (for at that time Croatia was a part
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). He completed the plan in
collaboration with the Head Gardener, V. Durchanek.
The year 1889, when the plan was drawn, is held to
be the year in which the Botanical Garden was founded, and
Professor Heinz is always considered its founder.
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Works
laying out the garden started in 1890. It was then that
the gardener's lodge (today the director's building) was
put up, and the Garden was enclosed with a wooden fence
that was after replaced with a decorative wrought iron
railing. The first works on the land started in 1891, and
the first planting was done in 1892.
The garden was designed and constructed in the landscape
style, with free-standing clumps of trees and winding
paths, with only the flower beds having strictly
symmetrical lines.
In 1911 a marine aquarium was installed in the Botanical
Garden; however, this is no longer in existence. |
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Original plan of the Garden from 1889 |
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As well
as the glasshouses, the garden has the following
buildings: the director's or administrative building, in
Art Nouveau style, the one-time gardener's lodge; the
building of the Botanical Institute (the one-time
Physiological Laboratory); the old exhibition pavilion (a
valuable and authentic item of pavilion architecture of
1891); a public lavatory (an example of a small municipal
structure from the end of the 19th century); the building
of the Botanical Institute, begun but never completed; the
old storeroom (also from the end of the 19th century); the
Water Company boiler room building (built in the 1930s);
the drinking water fountain; a porch for students; and a
small gazebo, acquired as a gift to mark the first
centenary. |
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''Klila'' (seed beds), near 1900. |
Glasshouses, near 1900. |
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In 1927 the Croatian Plant Geography Group
was set up – later called the Karstic Group. The plan for
this was designed by the celebrated Croatian botanist
Professor Ivo Horvat. It is planted with indigenous
species from various regions of Croatia. By 1985,
sub-Mediterranean, Mediterranean, Alpine and West European
rock gardens had been established. |
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At the
time of its foundation, the Botanical Garden, in company
with the Botanical and Physiological Institute, belonged
to the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Department of the
Faculty of Philosophy; however, since 1946, together with
the Botanical Institute, part of the Biological
Department, it has been a part of the Faculty of Science,
which was founded that very same year. Just a few years
after its foundation, the Botanical Garden was in
possession of a very rich collection of plants. But in the
course of time, because of a number of circumstances, it
was much reduced. It was most impoverished in the
post-World War II period; however, with the arrival of a
warden with great expertise, Dr Sala Ungar, within a
period of a few years it was once again enriched and in
terms of numbers achieved practically the maximum possible
when the area of the garden is considered. |
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As for
some of the major projects of the Garden in the second
half of the last century, it is worth mentioning the
construction of a new glasshouse in 1985; the restoration
of the iron railings and the toilet in 1986; the
construction of a new boiler room for the heating of the
glasshouses (1989); the construction of the domed
glasshouse west of the parterre (1995); and the new
glasshouse for the overwintering of plants (1996).
Large projects from 2000 incloode renovation of the old
glasshouses, fountains, wrought iron railing, and
especially the old exhibition pavilion (completed in 2007) |
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Pavilion in the Garden, arround 1900. |
Decaying at the end of the 20th century |
After
the restauration (2004-2007) |
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From the
very outset, the fact that the Garden belonged to the
University meant that its first and basic purpose was to
be at the service of university teaching and scientific
work, although even long ago it was also used as a city
park. Indeed, that was one of the conditions under which
the municipal authorities granted the land.
Because of its great educational, cultural,
historical and tourist values, as well as its overall
importance for the city of Zagreb and the Republic of
Croatia, the Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Science
has been since 1971 statutorily protected as a
monument of nature and culture (as monument of
horticultural architecture).
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