Botanical Garden of the Jagiellonian University

Kraków, Poland, Poland

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The Botanical Garden of the Jagiellonian University (Ogród Botaniczny Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego) is Poland's oldest botanical garden, founded in 1783 on the initiative of Hugon Kołłątaj during the reform of the Cracow Academy, and has been accessible to visitors for nearly 250 years.

Located at ul. Mikołaja Kopernika 27 in Kraków's Wesoła district, just east of the Old Town and about a 10–15-minute walk from the Main Market Square, the garden covers nearly 10 hectares (9.6 hectares) at the foot of a 17th-century palace. Its collection comprises approximately 8,000 species and varieties of plants organized into several sections, including plant systematics, protected and endangered plants, Polish flora, medicinal and useful plants, and an arboretum with over 1,000 species of trees and shrubs.

The garden features historic greenhouses, including the "Jubilee" palm house and a complex of tropical greenhouses that showcase around 50 species of palms, carnivorous plants, tropical cultivable plants, biblical plants, and Poland's oldest collection of sago palms.

Other notable sections include alpinaria (mountain plant gardens) displaying the flora of the Alps, Carpathians, and Caucasus, a rose collection (rosary), a rhododendron and azalea collection, a water and marsh flora section, a rock garden with a waterfall, and a small pond surrounded by walking lanes among trees and shrubs.