Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden
The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden , SSR Botanical Garden for short , or Pamplemousses Botanical Garden , is a botanical garden and a tourist attraction near the town of Pamplemousses eight kilometers north of Port Louis in the African island state of Mauritius . It was named after the politician Seewoosagur Ramgoolam , who led Mauritius to independence.
history
The site was originally owned by Pierre Barmond, who acquired it on June 8, 1729 and named it Mon Plaisir (German: "my joy"). In 1735 Mahé de Labourdonnais acquired the land and first grew spices on it.
Another Frenchman, Francois Etienne Le Juge , who later became the commandant of the Pamplemousses district , acquired lands in Pamplemousses in 1750. He brought back various plants from a trip to Senegal . In 1863 more than 800 plants of more than 50 species grew on his property.
The actual creator of the garden was Pierre Poivre , a French physiocrat , enlightener , horticultural expert, and intendant, intendant de l'île de France ( Île Maurice ) and was laid out in 1770. He imported exotic plants and laid out the garden as it can still be seen today. On October 12, 1772, he sold the park to the royal government, as he returned to France himself.
The park was managed by the well-known botanist Philibert Commerson , who reached the island in 1768, accompanied by Count Louis Antoine de Bougainville . Known as the "father of Mauritian botany", he died on March 13, 1773. His successor, Jean Nicolas (de) Céré (1738–1810) came from Mauritius and managed the park from 1775. He expanded and beautified the park. Charles Telfair ran the park from 1825 to 1829 . Also worth mentioning is the director James Duncan, who ran the park from 1849.
Since the tenure of governor René Magon , the park was called "Jardin des Plantes" or "Jardin du Roy". It was given its current name on September 18, 1988.
general facts
The oldest botanical garden in the Southern Hemisphere covers an area of about 37 hectares . Of this, 26 hectares are accessible, the other areas are cultivation and usable areas.
The garden was best known for its huge water lilies , Talipot palms and water lilies , but it also offers a large number of partly exotic spices , ebony trees , sugar cane and 85 different types of palms from Central America , Asia , Africa and other islands in the Indian Ocean . Some of the trees were brought to Mauritius as gifts by heads of state, including Princess Margaret , Indira Gandhi , François Mitterrand and Robert Mugabe .
In the middle of the park there is also the colonial house Mon Plaisir , which is a listed building and is only open for state receptions.
Paid tours are offered in the park. The fees are negotiable with the guides and vary depending on whether an individual tour or a group tour is desired.
The enclosure
The Victorian-style enclosure of the park was built in 1868 and is a gift from François Liénard de Lamivoye . She was awarded at the Great Exhibition in 1862.
The giant water lily pond and the lotus pond
At the end of the 1930s, a rectangular pond for giant water lilies ( Victoria amazonica ) was created in the middle of the park .
The neighboring lotus pond is slightly curved. It houses the Indian lotus flower (Nelumbo nucifera).
Giant water lily pond
Lotus pond
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Monuments
The Poivre monument
The Poivre monument is a bronze bust on a rectangular stone base. It is reminiscent of Pierre Poivre .
The Liénard monument
François Liénard de Lamivoye (* 1782) was the founder of the first museum in Port Louis and donated his collections to the Société Royale des Arts et des Sciences in Mauritius. Based on the proposal of the President of the Société Royale des Arts et des Sciences, de Cossigny, the society decided in 1858 to erect a monument to Liénard. Erected in 1860 on the main axis of the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden, the monument is a white obelisk .
The Samadhi Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
The Samadhi for Seewoosagur Ramgoolam is located near Mon Plaisir .
Liénard monument
Poivre monument
Samadhi Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
Mon Plaisir
Bertrand François Mahé de La Bourdonnais bought the property, it was already called Mon Plaisir. The mansion of the estate was henceforth used as the governor's residence. With the construction of the Château du Réduit (today's residence of the President of Mauritius) in 1748, this took over this function. There are no more traces of the house, this also applies to a successor building, which was built under Desforges Boucher (1759–1767). Under denis Nicolas Foucault (1777–1782) a new “Château de Mon Plaisir” was built as a wooden building. This too did not have a long lifespan.
The current building was built between 1820 and 1823 under Governor Robert Townsend Farquhar . It served as the residence of the military commander. Adrien d'Epinay bought the house in 1836 and used it until 1839. After that, it served as a residence for a large number of people, including many park directors.
In 1995 the mansion was extensively renovated and converted into a botanical museum.
literature
- Ewa Dankowska, Tadeusz Baranowski: "Pearl in the Crown" Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden - Mauritius. In: Roczniki Akademii Rolniczej w Poznaniu - CCCLXXII (2005) Bot.-Stec. 8. Pp. 43–53 (PDF; 171 kB)
- Pierre Claite et al .: Pamplemousses: le quartier, le jardin botanique, l'Église et les cimetières et autres lieux historiques . Cassis (Ile Maurice) 2008, ISBN 978-99903-82-17-4 , pp. 25-32.
- Guy Rouillard, Joseph Guého: Le Jardin des Pamplemousses: 1729-1979. histoire et botanique , Les Pailles, Ile Maurice 1983.
Web links
- SSR Botanical Garden official site (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ SUDOC: bibliographical evidence
- ^ Bibliothèque nationale de France: bibliographic evidence
Coordinates: 20 ° 6 ′ 26 ″ S , 57 ° 34 ′ 46 ″ E