History

A representative entrance for visitors was built in the 1930s in Dąbrowskiego Street according to the project of architecture engineer Stefan Cybichowski. Photo: AMU Botanical Garden archive

The Botanical Garden of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań was established on the initiative of Professor Rudolf Adam Boettner (Director of the Institute of Horticulture of the Poznań University), Władysław Marciniec (Director of Poznań's Municipal Gardens) and Doctor Joachim Namysł (representative of the School Inspectorate of the Poznań District), on the premises of a little school botanical garden established in 1906. Professor Rudolf Adam Boettner was appointed scientific director and after his death in 1923 the post was taken over by Professor Adam Wodziczko, Head of the Department of Botany of the Poznań University. The official opening of the Garden took place on 13 September 1925, and during this grand ceremony it was the Polish President Stanisław Wojciechowski himself, who did the honors and declared the Garden open to the public by cutting the ribbon.

In the central part of the Garden pergolas constructed between the years 1924-25 and a wooden hall were located. This valuable monument of Poznań's wooden architecture, existing by the way till the present day, is called the Summer Hall. In the past, botany lessons were conducted in the hall and today it serves as a place for concerts, artistic shows and other cultural events.

Photo: AMU Botanical Garden archive

Photo: Stefan Korcz

Photo: AMU Botanical Garden archive

The Ornamental Plants Section with impressive garden parterres and the Plant Geography Section was established in the western part of the Garden. Dendrological and alpine collections as well as the collection of protected plants, all created for the purpose of teaching horticulture and botany at the State School of Horticulture and the Poznań University. 

In the further background, outbuildings of the State School of Horticulture and the construction of an artificial water reservoir known today as Rusałka Lake.

During the German occupation the Botanical Garden was incorporated into the Reich University in Poznań and was headed by an outstanding geobotanist and ecophysiologist - Professor Heinrich Walter.

When the State School of Horticulture was closed, the Garden was incorporated into the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the Poznań University.

In the 1950s first greenhouses were built and the creation of new sites like steppe, peatbog and sand dunes started. The Alpine Garden was still under construction. The Garden started to perform its didactic function in the field of morphology and plant developmental biology. In 1968, the Garden became an autonomous department within the structure of Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences of the Adam Mickiewicz University and Professor Aleksander Łukasiewicz, a student and co-worker of Professor Zygmunt Czubiński, was appointed director. The 1960s and 70s introduced the modernization of sections, the construction of a new pond for water and marsh plants as well as the multistage enlargement of the Alpine Garden.

In 1981, the Botanical Garden was separated from the Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences and was treated from this time on as an independent unit. In 1985 and 2000, the Garden was enlarged with new land of diversified character. Its area was as twice as big as before and amounted to almost 22 ha. Currently the Garden covers the area of 21,94 ha. The plant collection counts over 6000 species, subspecies and cultivars from almost all climate zones of the Earth.