Hortus Botanicus Leiden

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The Hortus Botanicus 1610

The Hortus Botanicus in Leiden is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1590 for the education of the students at Leiden University .

history

After the University of Leiden was founded in 1575, the curators of the Leiden University developed the idea of ​​adding a botanical garden to the university. This followed the experience of university gardens for teaching at European universities. These originally go back to the year 1447, when plants were grown in the Vatican Gardens to instruct the theologians there. A hundred years later built the Botanical Garden Padua , the Botanical Garden of Pisa and other botanical gardens in Florence and Bologna . With the further developing educational canon of the cultural epoch of the Renaissance , the Botanical Garden of the University of Leipzig was created in 1580 .

Such an environment was also desired in Leiden for the aspiring university. As early as 1587, Gerard Bontius was therefore given the task of giving lectures on the interrelationships between plants and medical topics. In addition, on March 17, 1587, the curators of the Leiden University tried to find an area that was in close proximity to the university. A convent of the Dominican nuns had previously stood on this area , which had disappeared as a result of the denominational reorientation of the Netherlands. This 1400 square meter property was acquired on February 9, 1590, which is considered to be the founding date of the garden.

In 1592, Carolus Clusius was won over as head of the garden . For this purpose, on October 19, 1593, the medical faculty of the university introduced the honorary professorship of botany, with which the management of the botanical garden was connected. With the layout of the garden, houses were also built there for the employees and the botany professor. In September 1594 the first Hortulanus Dirck Outgertsz began. Cluyt with the first planting of the garden. Plant seeds from Clusius, Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq and the tulip bulbs from Cluyt could be used. Thus the Hortus had 251 plants at that time. At the end of the 16th century, attempts were made to adapt the educational landscape to the advancing developments of the time. In 1598, the full professor of botany Peter Pauw took over the management of the garden. In 1601 he compiled a summary entitled Hortus Publicus Academiae Lugduno - Batavae, ichnographia, descriptio, usus. etc. (Leiden 1601) appeared and contained 757 plant genera. A stone building, the so-called Ambulacorum Gallery , in which lectures could be held, was also built under his direction in 1600 .

In 1608 there was an extension of 400 square meters, where the first orangery was built from 1610 to 1612. This happened under the direction of Aelius Everhardus Vorstius under whose direction the Hortus was able to count 941 plant species in 1614. His son Adolphus Vorstius continued his work. The younger Vorstius began further cataloging the Hortus holdings in 1635 and 1642. This catalog was published under the title Catalogus plantarum Horti Academici Lugduno-Batavi in Leiden 1636 and 1643. However, the first orangery was only a very small building and soon no longer suitable to accommodate the growing number of non-winter-hardy plants. In 1643 it was possible to acquire new land in the northwest of the botanical property. A new wintering area was built here, which is now called the old orangery.

The work of Vorstius was continued by his successor, Florentius Schuyl . During this time, tomatoes, tobacco, corn and potatoes were grown, which increased the garden's reputation in Northern Europe. Plants from the Dutch colonies, such as those obtained by the Dutch East India Company , found their way into the garden. After Paul Hermann took over the management of the Hortus from Arnold Sijen, the latter continued cataloging the holdings. This inventory was published in 1687 in Leiden under the title Horti Academici Lugduno-Batavi Catalogus. The seventeenth century ended with the reign of Peter Hotton who led the facility into the eighteenth century.

A pupil of Hottos took over the management of the Hortus in 1709. This was Herman Boerhaave . Boerhaave realized how important cataloging was for the scientific operation of the Hortus. To this end, he first carried out an inventory and published the plant catalog Index plantarum, quae in Horto academico Lugdono-Batvo reperiuntur in the year following his assumption . In an effort to put together a comprehensive and coherent medical system, he meticulously collected new observations and facts of his time and tried to classify them appropriately. This also included the components of the Hortus, which he continued to perfect at every opportunity. During his time, he was in contact with important botanists, with whom he exchanged letters on botanical topics and plant seeds. These include, among others, Carl von Linné and Jean Baptiste Bassand . Boerhaave soon realized that the explanations of his first work on the Hortus were no longer sufficient. Ten years later he enriched this work with the history of the botanical garden, added some graphic representations, and it comprised 5846 plant species. This work was published in Leiden in 1720 under the title Index alter plantarum, quae in horto Academico Lugdono-Batavo coluntur and was reprinted in 1727.

In 1730 Borhaave's successor Adrianus van Royen took over the management of the botanical garden. During his term of office, the Hortus experienced a variety of structural changes. A new orangery was built under his direction. His work was continued by his son Adrianus van Royen (1730–1754), David van Royen (1754–1786), Sebald Justinus Brugmans , Gerard Sandifort , Kaspar Georg Karl Reinwardt , Willem Hendrik de Vriese and Willem Frederik Reinier Suringar . Under the latter direction, the old Leiden observatory was built on the grounds of the Hortus . After the management of the garden under Jacobus Marinus Janse , Lourens Gerhard Marinus Baas Becking took over the management of the garden, under which again revolutionary structural changes were made. In 1931 the Clusius Garden was built, which is borrowed from the original pattern from the founding time. Greenhouses that were built between 1850 and 1890 were torn down and the large greenhouse complex Viktoria was built from 1937 to 1938 . After Taco Hajo van den Honert (botanist) (1949–1958), Willem Karel Hendrik Karstens (1958–1973) and Cornelis Kalkman (1989–1990) had directed the fortunes of the garden , the Hortus began in 1990 under the direction of Pieter Baas to renovate again. In 2004 Jan de Koning (* 1943) and in 2006 the German Paul Keßler (* 1958) became director of the Hortus.

Today the botanical garden is involved in the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), in the Dutch Association of Botanical Gardens ( Dutch Nederlandse Vereniging van Botanische Tuinen ), in the Dutch Foundation for National Plant Collections ( Dutch Stichting Nationale Plantencollectie (SNP) ) and the Dutch Museum Association ( Dutch Vereniging van Nederlandse musea ).

literature

  • Else M. Terwen-Dionisius: Four eeuwen bouwen in de Hortus. Part I. (1587-1815). In: Jaarboekje voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde van Leiden en Rijnland. AW Sijthoffs, Leiden, 1980, pp. 35–65, ( PDF Online )
  • Else M. Terwen-Dionisius: Four eeuwen bouwen in de Hortus. Part II. (1815-1980). In: Jaarboekje voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde van Leiden en Rijnland. AW Sijthoffs, Leiden, 1981, pp. 59–96, ( PDF Online )
  • H. Veendorp & LGM Baas Becking: Hortus Academicus Lugduno-Batavus, 1587-1937 . Haarlem & Enschede, 1938. Ed. 1990 (with a preface by Cornelis Kalkman), ISBN 90-71236-05-6
  • WKH Karstens & H. Kleibrink: De Leidse Hortus. A botanical erfenis . Zwolle, Waanders, 1982. ISBN 90-70072-92-0
  • Gerrit de Graaff et al .: De plantentuinen van Nederland en Vlaanderen . Amsterdam, Boom, 1995. ISBN 90-5352-118-6
  • Stans van der Veen, Jan de Koning et al .: Hortus botanicus Leiden . Hortus Botanicus Leiden, 2001. ISBN 90-76606-02-1

Web links

Commons : Hortus Botanicus Leiden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 9 ′ 22 ″  N , 4 ° 29 ′ 3 ″  E