Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum

Berlin, Germany, Germany

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The Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum in Berlin is one of the world's largest and most species-rich botanical gardens, located in southwest Berlin near Steglitz-Dahlem.

Covering 43 hectares, the garden features around 20,000 to 22,000 different plant species flowering on site, making it a magnet attracting approximately half a million visitors annually. The garden's most stunning feature is the massive Tropical Greenhouse, a large glass-domed structure surrounded by multiple smaller greenhouses, formal gardens, paths, trees, and a fountain.

The garden was founded in the 17th century as a royal garden for flowers, medicinal plants, vegetables, and hops, and was rehabilitated in 1801 by botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow, who transformed it into one of Europe's outstanding botanical research centers and public displays. The adjacent Botanical Museum, founded in 1905 to complement the garden, is the only museum dedicated solely to botany in central Europe and houses a large herbarium of about 1.85 million reference specimens plus a museum library.

However, the Botanical Museum is currently closed for extensive modernization work until autumn 2026, while the garden and greenhouses remain fully open. The garden serves important roles in research, education, and conservation, offering special displays, service greenhouses, and acres of outdoor gardens with plants from around the world.