Old Botanical Garden, Zurich, Botanical garden near Schanzengraben moat, Zurich, Switzerland.
The Old Botanical Garden Zurich is a public garden in the center of the city, next to the Schanzengraben moat, with plant beds, pathways, and glasshouses dating from the 19th century. It is listed as a class A Swiss cultural property of national significance, placing it among the most protected sites in the country.
The garden was founded in 1837 by gardener Leopold Karl Theodor Fröbel, drawing on collections linked to the 16th-century naturalist Conrad Gessner. As the city grew, the garden was relocated more than once before settling at its current location.
The garden sits in the middle of the city and is used by students, families, and locals on their lunch breaks. The old glasshouses are still in use and give visitors a chance to see tropical plants that would otherwise be hard to find anywhere nearby.
The garden is easy to reach on foot from the city center and sits right next to the Schanzengraben. Admission is free, so it is easy to stop by at any time, though the glasshouses may have their own opening hours.
Beneath the garden lie remains of Baroque bastions built in 1642, including a structure known as the Bollwerk zur Katz. These underground fortifications are not visible from above, but they reveal that the ground underfoot was once part of the city's defenses.
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