Botanical Garden in Banská Štiavnica

History

The idea of planting the botanical garden in Banská Štiavnica was born in the head of the first professor of forestry at Banská Academy- H.D.Wilchens. His idea was then put into practice by Rudolf Feistmantel, who was a professor of forestry. In 1838, he initiated purchase of the “Fortúna” building with its estates and between 1838 and 1839, the first wooden plants were planted there.

Until 1844, almost 500 plants of domestic and exotic trees and bushes were planted. The attractive part of the garden is the one established in 1859, where rare wooden plants were planted. After 1868, thanks to professor Ferdinand Illés, the garden was opened to the public. The wooden plants such as the giant sequoia, the cedar of Lebanon, the grey cedar and others were added in 1880 during the project of planting exotic plants in the botanical garden led by  professor Ľudovít Fekete.

Description of the park

The botanical garden in Banská Štiavnica is divided into two parts- the lower and the upper garden. The older one- the lower part is not so widely known and is not so well maintained. The building Fortúna also belonged to this part and it served as a storage for desks from the forestry school.

The lower part was planted in 1810 by professor H.Wilkens as a part of the forestry institute. The planting was finished by professor Schwarz.

The upper botanical garden was established by professor Wagner who established a tree nursery there. The plan for the first real botanical garden was made by professor Ferdinand Illés in 1868.

Both botanical gardens consist of many diverse domestic and exotic wooden plants. The most remarkable ones are definitely the giant sequoia, sycamore, the Atlantic cedar and many others, 250 species of exotic trees in total.

The garden stretches on 3,45 ha. The visitors may also find a few monuments and busts in the garden, with the bust of Andrej Sládkovič dominating

Fauna and flora of the park

In the botanical garden, the visitors may observe woody plants from six floristic regions- north Siberia, China-Japan, west Asia, central Asia, Mediterranean Atlantic, North America and Pacific North American. The extraordinarily valuable are- giant sequoia, the cedar of Lebanon and the Atlas cedar. Maples and oaks create the richest collection among the deciduous species. Among the coniferous trees, pine trees and fir trees and sprues are abundant.

Múdre stromy

Current use

The purpose of the botanical garden is to lead to a positive relationship with nature and to teach environmental protection

Nowadays, the Forestry high school is in charge of the further development and planting of new woody plants all over the world to the botanical garden.

Contact

Stredná odborná škola lesnícka Banská Štiavnica

Akademická 16 , 969 01, Banská Štiavnica

tel. 045/691 1131-32

e-mail: soslbs1@gmail.com

Plan your way

Opening hours

The upper botanical garden is open to the public and the opening hours are as follows:

Accessibility of the park