Registry of Biodiversity Institutions, Collections and Databases: Institution

Description

The Royal Botanical Garden is a Research Institute belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) since 1939 and has the singularity of being a Botanical Garden at the same time. Since its creation, it has carried out the basic functions of all botanic gardens: research, conservation and education.

On October 17, 1755, King Ferdinand VI ordered the creation of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, which was installed in Huerta de Migas Calientes, next to the Manzanares River. It had more than 2,000 plants, collected by the botanist and surgeon José Quer, on his many trips to the Iberian Peninsula or obtained through exchanges with other European botanists.

As of 1774, Carlos III gave instructions for its transfer to the current location of Paseo del Prado, where it was inaugurated in 1781. Sabatini —architect of the King, and Juan de Villanueva, to whom we owe the Prado Museum, the Astronomical Observatory and other works— took charge of the project. In those years the three stepped terraces were built, the plants were arranged according to the Linnaeus method and the fence that surrounds the Garden, the trellises and the greenhouse called Villanueva Pavilion were also built, where the chair where Antonio taught his classes is located. Joseph Cavanilles.

Since its creation, the Royal Botanic Garden has taught Botany, sponsored expeditions to America and the Pacific, commissioned drawings of large collections of plant plates, and collected important herbariums that served as the basis for describing new species. for Science.

In 1808, the War of Independence brought years of abandonment and sadness to the Garden, in which the efforts of Mariano de La Gasca to keep it within European scientific currents are remarkable.

In 1857, when Mariano de la Paz Graells was director of the Royal Garden, important reforms were carried out that still continue, such as the greenhouse that bears his name and the remodeling of the upper terrace. Also during the time of Graells, a zoo was installed, which twelve years later, when Miguel Colmeiro was already director, moved to the Buen Retiro Garden.

In the decade from 1880 to 1890, the Garden suffered significant losses. In 1882, two hectares were segregated to build the building currently occupied by the Ministry of Agriculture, thus reducing its surface area to the current eight hectares. In 1886, a cyclone felled 564 valuable trees in its enclosure. In the first third of the 20th century, research began in earnest in the field of mycology, and those developed in micromycetology reached a high level.

In 1939 it was included in the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). In 1942 it is declared an Artistic Monument. In 1974 it was closed to the public to undertake extensive restoration works, which ended up restoring its original style. In 1981, coinciding with the bicentennial of its transfer, new reforms were carried out and in 1993 the modern greenhouse of the exhibition was inaugurated. In February 2005, its exhibition space is expanded by 1 ha.