Central botanical garden is not only a place for a quiet and pleasant pastime but also a respectable scientific establishment that plays one of the major roles in using resources and maintaining environmental safety.

The historical formation of the Botanical Garden in Minsk

Minsk Central botanical garden was officially opened on April 17^th, 1932. Initially, the project consisted of 106 hectares, covered with short pine forest and designed for its further development. The territory near the modern Cheluskintsev Park was chosen to be the place for a garden.

During the next few years, the planning was carried out in order to create the garden: land separation, its reclamation, collection of various flora representatives and systematization. In 1936, the plan of the garden closely reminded the today’s one with the difference in the number and variety of plant species. For example, many areas had plantations of trees and bushes instead of flowerbeds. There could also be found special hothouses to cultivate exotic and heat-loving plants.

By the time the Great Patriotic War started, plenty of work had been done with the assistance from the Government and the construction of the recreational forest and arboretum were almost completed. Though after that it was a pretty dark period for the garden, and the formerly green and well-groomed territory was used for planting and growing vegetables.

Thus, in 1945, the garden had to be recreated from the very beginning. The situation was aggravated by the fact that after the war the Botanical garden remained the only scientific establishment of botany-biology in Belarus. Hybridization and plant physiology labs were open for that purpose.

The Botanical garden in Minsk was acknowledged as one of the best in the USSR in the mid-50s under the guidance of N.V. Smolski. There were created plant collection funds. Some studies in the sphere of the acclimatization, selection, the environmental protection and the natural recourses reproduction also took place.

Due to the reduced financing during the post-soviet times, the Botanical garden began to do some piecework, which broadened its fields of activity. For example, some uncommon for Belarus berries were cultivated – cowberries, ginseng. There appeared additional business – the production of wine, herbal tea, syrups, jam and so on.

Description of the Botanical Garden on the official website VETLIVA

Nowadays the diverse business of the Botanical garden is aimed to achieve many important goals:

– conducting scientific studies, including search and diagnosis of the regularities that occur during the formation of the different plant species productivity, environmental monitoring, penetration of the newest results of genetic engineering and bioengineering. The results of these studies can be found in more than 70 published books as well as countless number of scientific articles;

– the replenishment and protection of natural resources;

– the most effective and rational use of the flora representatives in industry, medicine, agriculture and other fields;

– herbal and landscape design.

And of course, from the esthetic point of view, the
Botanical garden is one of the most interesting places for the citizens and the
guests, being the recreational recourse of full value.

What to see in Minsk: Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden in Minsk is a tourist attraction that attracts many tourists to the capital of Belarus. It is located near the metro station "Park Chelyuskintsev", so it is not difficult to visit it either independently or as part of a Minsk sightseeing tour.