Alter Botanischer Garten

Marburg, Germany, Germany

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The Alter Botanischer Garten Marburg (Old Botanical Garden Marburg), also known as the Alter Botanischer Garten am Pilgrimstein, is a historic 3.6-hectare arboretum and botanical garden maintained by Philipps-Universität Marburg and located at Pilgrimstein 3 in central Marburg, Hesse, Germany, open daily without charge.

The garden's origins trace back to 1527–1533 when Euricius Cordus, considered a founder of scientific botany in Germany, created Marburg's first private botanical garden, followed by a second attempt in 1786 by Professor Conrad Moench near Elisabeth Church, but the current garden dates to 1810 when Georg Wilhelm Franz Wenderoth obtained the site from Jérôme Bonaparte and developed it into English style combining park landscape with scientific garden.

In 1861 Albert Wigand transformed it according to the style of Peter Joseph Lenné and Johann Heinrich Gustav Meyer, creating specialized sections for trees, and the Gothic Revival-style Botanical Institute was built nearby at Pilgrimstein 4 in 1873–1875. In 1977 the university transferred its plant collections to the newer Neuer Botanischer Garten Marburg on the Lahnberge hills, and in 1994 the Old Botanical Garden became a registered cultural monument (Gartendenkmal).

Although still owned by the university, it now serves mainly as a beloved public park and green oasis in the city center near the new university library, featuring a fine arboretum of mature trees over 200 years old including specimens of Quercus petraea (rock oak), Platanus × hispanica (London plane), Salix alba (white willow), Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree), and many conifers, making it a popular relaxation space for city residents, university staff, students, and visitors.