Botanical garden of Paris

See also: Botanical garden

The Botanical garden is a Botanical garden opened with the public, located in the V {{E}} district of Paris, between the Mosquée of Paris, the university campus of Jussieu and the the Seine. It belongs to the national Muséum of natural history.

Placé under the patronage of Buffon until the Revolution, it extends on a surface from 23.5 hectares.

Attractions of the garden

The prospect

A great prospect (500 m length for 3 ha) extends from the Grande gallery for the evolution to the Place Valhubert, close to the quays of the Seine. Its floors with the Frenchwoman are bordered of curtains of Platane S. As from April, the floors are flowered. The collections of flowers change regularly, adding up nearly thousand crop plants.

The prospect is divided into two esplanades : the esplanade Milne-Edwards, of the name of the director of the Natural history museum of 1890 with 1900, which are vis-a-vis the Gallery, and the Lamarck esplanade, on the side of the Seine. The Milne-Edward esplanade recovers the zoothèque located in basement, which gathers hundreds of thousands of naturalized animals, insects, fish, reptiles or mammals. Vis-a-vis the Gallery, at the head of this esplanade, is a bronze statue of Buffon, work of Jean Carlus (1908).

The rosery

Created in 1990 the purpose of, it is to study and present to the public the various subspecies of pink S, classified in a reasoned way. It includes/understands 170 varieties of European pinks, planted along the Haüy alley (of the name of the abbot Haüy, pioneer of the Minéralogie), which skirts the gallery of botany and geology. It is decorated of two statues, the Love captive of Felix Sanzel and Venus genitrix from Louis-Marie Dupaty.

The Greenhouse S

Three greenhouses with metal reinforcement are aligned along the prospect. Two of them are opened with the public:
  • the wintergarden (750 m ²), with hot and wet climate (22°C). Of style Art déco, the greenhouse is the work of the architect Rene Berger (1937). It includes/understands climbing plants, of the Ficus, the Palmier S and of the Bananier S.
  • the Mexican greenhouse, works of Rohault de Fleury (1834 - 1836), precursor of metal architecture in France. It gathers species characteristic of the arid mediums of America, southernmost Africa and Madagascar: Cactus, Euphorbium S, Sisal plant S, Avocado tree S, Coffee-tree S, Pepper plant S.
  • the Australian greenhouse, also drawn by Rohault de Fleury.

The menagerie

See also: Menagerie of the Botanical garden

The menagerie is one of the oldest zoological gardens of the world. It was created in 1795 on the initiative of Bernardin of Saint-Pierre, by the transfer of the animals of the royal menagerie of Versailles and the private and open menageries. At the time of the Common of Paris (1871), the animals were eaten by the Parisian ones besieged.

During its history, it presented an innumerable quantity of animal species, of which the first Girafe presented in France (1826), elephant S, brown and white Ours, Phoque S.

Many constructions, sometimes sophisticated for the time, were built for this purpose at XIXe and the beginning of the XXe century, succeeding the enclosures and summary cages of the beginning: rotunda, bear pits, antics, fauveries, houses of the raptors and the reptiles, pheasantries. The most succeeded of them built for the World Fair of is undoubtedly the large birdcage 1888 and always used.

In the middle of the XXe century, the menagerie entered during one time of decline, eclipsed by more modern zoological gardens (Zoo of Vincennes, Parc of Thoiry), then disputed by the movements anti-zoos, whereas practically no restoration was undertaken. The animals lived in installations generally badly maintained, often degraded and exiguous.

It is as from the years 1980 qu ' a policy of rehabilitation of the menagerie was installation, with several successive restorations (Birdcages with Raptors, Rotonde, Maison of the Reptiles, etc…), and a clear preference granted to the presentation of species of small and average size, generally little known and/or threatened of extinction.

The greatest species (elephant, giraffe, lion, tiger, gorilla, chimpanzee, bear), impossible to maintain correctly in installations of small size and impossible to increase in the center of Paris, gradually left the menagerie in the years 1970 to 2000. Currently, it lodges 1  100 animals, mammals, reptiles and birds, on 5,5 hectares. It specialized in several groups of animals: in the mammals, the Horse of Przewalski, the Orang-outang, several species the caprine ones (Goat of the Rocky Mountains, Takin, Bharal, Ibex of Ethiopia), small carnivorous S, Rodent S and Cercopithèque S; in the birds, the Vulture S and the night Rapaces are well represented, just as pheasants and certain waders (Spatule S, Ibis, crane S, Agami S and the very rare crested Kagou); many a Reptile S (whose giant Tortoises of more than 100 years), Batrachian S and Insecte S is high in the house of the reptiles and vivarium.

The alpine garden

The alpine garden, created in 1931, aims at studying the shrubby and herbaceous plants mountain mediums of the whole world (the Corsica Himalayas, the Alps, ). It counts more than 2.000 plants out of two zones connected by an underpass. The garden comprises a male pistachio tree from which the botanist Sebastien Vaillant highlighted the sexuality of the plants at the 18th century.

The school of botany

Gathering 4500 varieties of shrubs and plants, it was created by the botanist André Thouin at the 18th century. It aims at presenting in a way reasoned to the public and to the botanists the species likely to live in the open air in Europe. It also includes/understands historical trees. Several weekly courses are exempted there by the gardeners of the Natural history museum.

History

Created in 1635, the Jardin of the king becomes with the Révolution the Botanical garden of Paris.

The Révolution bursts one year after the death of Buffon, intendant of the Garden of the king, and involves many changes in the organization of garden. Here the beginning of the text founder written by the scientists themselves, at the request of the National Assembly:

  • Article 1st: The establishment will be named Museum of Natural history.
  • Article II: The principal goal of the establishment will be the public education of the natural history, taken in all its extent and applied to the advance of agriculture, the trade and arts.
  • Article III: The Museum of Natural history will be under the immediate protection of the representatives of the Nation.
  • Article IV: All the officers of the Museum of Natural history will carry the title of professors.
  • Article V: All the professors of the Museum will be equal in rights and salary.

In order to preserve the high wages of Daubenton, the scientists name it with Buffon founders of the Museum, and Daubenton, then 74 years old, is named director with life. It follows of rather confused time, the government having more urgent businesses to treat. In 1791, Bernardin of Saint-Pierre is named intendant of the garden.

Dates

Gallery

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