Botanisk Have, Copenhagen

Botanisk Have is Copenhagen’s botanical garden, spread across 10 hectares and especially known for its historic glasshouses from 1874. Notice the long glass structures and the tall Palm House: the complex contains 27 glasshouses, while the Palm House rises 16 metres and includes a narrow cast-iron spiral staircase leading to a passageway above. The garden holds more than 13,000 plant species, arranged in areas devoted to Danish plants, perennials, annuals, mountain flora and conifers.

Its collections include a taxodium dating from 1806, moved here when it was already 60 years old. The garden began in 1600, created to preserve medicinal plants after convent gardens had disappeared or been destroyed following the Reformation. It moved twice before reaching this site in 1870.

The present glasshouse complex arrived in 1874 through funding from J. C. Jacobsen, whose idea drew inspiration from London’s Crystal Palace.

Today, this is part of the Natural History Museum of Denmark and serves research, teaching and leisure. Within the garden, the botanical museum and herbarium give staff access to more than 2 million dried plant specimens.