Buenos Aires Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden of Buenos Aires (Spanish: Jardin Botanico Carlos Thays de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires ) is a public garden in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. It is located in the Palermo district, in the north of the city. The garden is bounded by the Santa Fe Avenue, Avenida Las Heras and Calle República Árabe Siria. Along with the zoo, Parque Tres de Febrero and the Japanese Garden, it forms a contiguous recreation area for the capital - dwellers.

Overview

In 1996, the Botanical Garden was declared a National Monument. It has an area of almost 70,000 m² and includes 5,000 species of plants, trees and shrubs on and a number of sculptures, monuments, and five greenhouses.

The garden was, like many other parks and squares, created by the French- Argentine landscape architect Carlos Thays and on September 7, opened in 1898. Thays lived 1892-1898, ie during the construction period, with his family in a villa in the park.

The park is divided into three different zones: one in the style of ancient Rome, a French and an "Oriental ":

The Roman garden is characterized by trees that the amateur botanist Pliny the Younger in the garden of his villa in the Apennines, including cypress, poplar and laurel.

The French garden is laid out in symmetrical style of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The " oriental " garden is home to plants from Asia, including gingko trees, from Oceania, including acacia, eucalyptus and casuarina trees, European plants such as oak and hazelnut and plants from Africa, including ferns and palms.

Furthermore, there are many plants from North and South America, such as redwoods and floss silk trees and an extensive collection of native vegetation.

Building

The garden is next to a botanical museum also includes local horticultural college, named after Cristóbal María Hicken, which cooperates with the Faculty of Agriculture of the Universidad de Buenos Aires. An attraction for visitors are the five greenhouses. The largest of them is built in Art Nouveau style and dates from the World Exhibition in Paris 1889. It has a length of 35 meters, is 8 meters wide and houses over 2,500 tropical plants. The Library of the park has 1,000 books and 10,000 other publications from all over the world.

The park also are 33 works of art on display, including sculptures, busts and monuments. Mention may be made especially Los primeros Frios of the Catalan sculptor Miguel Blay y Fábregas, Sagunto by Querol y Subirats, Figura de mujer by Lola Mora and Saturnalia, a bronze sculpture by Ernesto Biondi. The monument Indicador Meteorologico (weather gauge ), designed by José Markovich, was a gift of the Austro- Hungarian community of Buenos Aires on the occasion of Exposicià Internacional del Centenario 1910.

In recent years, the botanical garden is home to many of abandoned domestic cats was. Garden management and security personnel have so far been unable to stop this. Attempts to remove the cats, encountered resistance of local residents and animal welfare organizations. Also would not be solved because sometimes every day a new cat is added to the expulsion of the already living in the park cats the problem. An animal protection buffs will now operate as a volunteer helper, feed them, provide for a new home and take care of vaccinations and veterinary care.