Botanical Museum
The Botanical Museum of the National Garden is housed in the "small pavilion" of Queen Olga located inside the National Garden of Athens. It is said that the neoclassical style building was built based on plans by Panagiotis Kalkos (1810-1878). The architect worked in the service of the palaces to shape the Royal Garden which began in 1839 with the planting of 15,000 ornamental plants brought from Milan. Plants and trees were also brought from various regions of Greece, from Europe and from North African countries. The main works completed in 1854 were supervised by the French garden architect Ludovikos Barot, assisted by the botanist Theodoros Orphanides and the German agronomist Frederick Smith. In 1923, the Garden was named National. Since 2002, the National Garden is administratively owned by the Directorate of Greenery and Environment.
The National Garden, with an area of 158 hectares, has 140 species and varieties of trees, 100 species and varieties of shrubs, 100 species of native plants and 420 species of exotic plants from all the Continents. The Botanical Museum exhibits specimens of the different varieties of trees, plants and shrubs as well as informative material on the species and the history of tree planting. The Museum is not open to the public.
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou