Plantentuin

Antwerp, Belgium, Belgium

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Plantentuin, also known as Den Botaniek, is Antwerp's historic botanical garden located on Leopoldstraat in the city center, covering slightly less than 1 hectare as a tranquil green oasis just around the corner from the main shopping street.

Created in 1825 for medical education purposes supporting the adjacent Sint-Elisabethgasthuis hospital, the garden was designed by doctor Claude-Louis Sommé and still features a small pond that legend says was once used to keep medicinal bloodsuckers for the hospital. Despite its compact size, the garden houses around 2,000 plant species including an extraordinary large wild orange tree, a Ginkgo Biloba, medicinal plants, exotic species, and cacti in its historic conservatory and greenhouses.

The entrance gate was designed by architect Pierre Bruno Bourla in 1826, and the garden has been managed by Antwerp's City Council since 1926, with the herb garden receiving protected landscape status in January 1950. Visitors enjoy free daily entry to stroll through themed gardens, picnic, relax among sculptures and a rocky waterfall with water lilies, and view tropical plants in the conservatory (open Saturdays 13:30–15:45 and Sundays 10:00–13:00, closed Sundays only for the conservatory itself).