Prague botanical garden

Was established on January 1, 1969 and the original megalomaniac plans counted to have it on the area over 130 hectares. Before 1990 just a little of good thing were done and the period may be characterised as the period of complete stagnation. Since September 22, 1992 the Prague Botanical Garden (Prazska botanicka zahrada) has been a subsidised organisation of the City of Prague. In future expositions should cover 18 hectares, the rest shall be dedicated to recreational areas of free access, protected areas, children playgrounds, etc. Today the PBZ grows over 20,000 higher plant species, which means it is the second largest in Europe. The garden collections are already now highly appreciated by foreign experts and within the Czech Republic the PBZ is in generally taken as the most dynamically developing botanical garden. At present it is under development, but its value and attendance are increasing continuously.

Fata Morgana – the Prague Botanical garden’s new greenhouse, stretches 130 meters (429 feet) in a gentle S-curve, an eye-catching addition to a residential Troja neighborhood. The immense construction project looks as if it would take a toll on the surrounding terrain. But in fact the greenhouse has incorporated the features of the landscape: Under the long half-cylinder of metal and transparent plastic lies the natural cliff face of a Prague hillside.

In just over a year, that local stone will be turned into a habitat for some 5,000 species of plants and a showpiece for the garden, expected to draw visitors from the Czech Republic and abroad.

The greenhouse, whose name means mirage in Italian, combines ambitious elements into a design that is unique in the Czech Republic and has few equals in the world. Not only does the building incorporate a natural cliff into its structure as the main exhibition space, but it also contains three separate sections that will simulate three climate zones, including a rare cool tropical highland.

Officials of the Prague Botanical Garden have been working to make the new greenhouse a reality for nearly seven years. They recently announced that construction would end in late May and that they expect to open Fata Morgana to the public next summer.

Contact: 

Oldřich Vacek, Director of Prague Botanical Garden
vacek@af.czu.cz, pbz@botgarden.cz
http://www.botgarden.cz/