Natural History Museum of Florence - Botany section, museum in Florence, Italy focused on plants
The Natural History Museum of Florence - Botany section is a university-run facility dedicated to plant sciences, featuring collections focused on different plant types and how they grow. The garden includes a central fountain, neoclassical statues, greenhouses for delicate plants, and indoor rooms with large exotic trees from around the world.
The museum will celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2025 as Europe's oldest publicly open natural history museum. Its collections include items from the Medici era, and the name comes from an observatory that Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Lorraine established in the tower.
The garden is called Giardino dei Semplici, a name that reflects its historical use for medicinal plants. Today it serves both students and locals as a place to spend time among plants from different parts of the world.
The museum and garden are open from Tuesday to Sunday in the mornings and afternoons, closed on Mondays and major holidays. Admission is affordable with discounts available for students, seniors, and families, while children under six enter for free.
Some greenhouses have been temporarily affected by weather damage, particularly those housing Begonias, showing how the museum navigates modern challenges in maintaining its living collections. The indoor rooms of the garden have a dreamlike, almost surreal quality with their white walls and exotic trees from Papua New Guinea.
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