The A.V. Fomin Botanical Garden (sometimes transliterated as O.V. Fomin Botanical Garden) is one of the oldest botanical gardens in Ukraine, located in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, the capital of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

.http://www.botanic.kiev.ua/#eng/ , (Ukrainian) In 1839 the Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kyiv opened its own botanical garden. The botanical garden is 22.5 hectares (0.225 km²), with 8,000 plant species, including 143 recorded in the Red Data Book of Ukraine. The Garden is famous for its exotic plants: it has the biggest collection of

succulents In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meanin ...

among the countries of the former Soviet Union. The greenhouse, which was built for the largest and the oldest palm trees in Northern Eurasia, is among the highest in the world. In 1935, the garden was named after the

academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. Accor ...

and botanist Aleksandr Vasiljevich Fomin, who directed the garden for years. The vestibule of the

Kyiv Metro The Kyiv Metro (, ) is a rapid transit system in Kyiv, Ukraine, owned by the Kyiv City Council and operated by the city-owned company Kyivskyi Metropoliten''.'' It was initially opened on 6 November 1960, as a single line with five stations. I ...

station Universytet, is located on the northern edge of the garden, which was opened in 1960.

History

Architect V.I. Beretti who as well known by his project of Kyiv University, was the first who raised issue of botanical garden establishment in 1834. He proposed to place the garden on the waste territory near the university buildings. For this purpose, from Kremenets Lyceum (Kyiv) 513 plants were brought, that were temporarily placed in the Tsar (now City) garden. However, due to lack of funds, the garden establishment was postponed for 5 years. Only in 1839 the Kyiv school district administration gave permission for a temporary Botanical Garden to start under the direction of Head of the botany department of Kyiv University Ernst Trautvetter, who then managed the Botanical Garden in the position of director. The official date of the Kyiv Botanical Garden establishment is 22 May 1839, when E. Trautfetter started the first plantings. In 1841 the garden received its permanent status. In 1850 design and layout of the garden were completed. By 1852 there were 25,416 trees and 419 species of shrubs, as well as more than 4,000 species of other plants in the garden. 1941-1943, during the

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, many precious plants from the collection were lost. Some plants were transported to Germany. In the spring of 1944 the garden was reopened to the public, the restoration of greenhouses and plant collections started. In 1960, the garden was declared an artifact of landscape art of the national importance. In 1977, a greenhouse-

climatron The Climatron is a greenhouse enclosed in a geodesic dome that is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Initiated by then Garden director Frits W. Went, the dome is the world's first completely air-conditioned greenhouse and the ...

was built at the Garden, that was one of the largest in the world at that time.

Directors

* 1852 – 1879 — University professor Afanasiy Rogovich. * 1879 – 1894 — a prominent botanist, the Botany professor

Johannes Theodor Schmalhausen Johannes Theodor Schmalhausen (1849–1894) was a Russian botanist of German descent, known for his studies of East-European plants. Early life and education Johannes Theodor Schmalhausen was born in St Petersburg. His father was a librarian a ...

headed the Botanical Garden. * 1894 – 1914 —

Sergei Navashin Sergei Gavrilovich Navashin (; 14 December 1857 – 10 December 1930) was a Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russia ...

. He is associated with remarkable discoveries in the field of cyto-embryology of the plants, that made the Garden and the Kyiv University famous worldwide. * 1914 – 1935 —

Alexander Fomin Alexander Vasilyevich Fomin ( born May 25, 1959) is a Russian Deputy Minister of Defence. Biography Alexander Fomin was born on May 25, 1959, in Leninogorsk. He attended the Military Institute of the Red Banner of the Ministry of Defence ( ...

(1867 – 1935). Fomin and his colleagues shared the ordeals of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. However, they not only managed to preserve the fragile tropical plants in times of economic chaos, but also to build three new greenhouses, and repaired the tropical house. In 1922 Aleksander Fomin founded the botany department at Botanical Garden, that was reorganized in 1927 into Scientific-Research Botany Institute (now the Institute of Botany named after Kholodny, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine). When Fomin died in 1935, the Garden received his name.

Gallery

File:WLE - 2018 - Цвітіння магнолій у ботанічному саду ім. академіка О.В. Фоміна - 1.jpg, Magnolias in the garden File:Central botanical garden Kiev 2.jpg, Greenhouse File:Kyiv Botsad Fomina 06 (YDS 3334).JPG,

Interesting facts

* In 1874,

Kobzar A ''kobzar'' ( ; ) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed kobza or bandura. Tradition The professional kobzar tradition was established during the Hetmanate Era around the sixteenth cen ...

Ostap Veresai Ostap Mykytovych Veresai () (1803–April 1890) was a renowned minstrel and kobzar from the Poltava Governorate (now Chernihiv oblast) of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). He helped to popularize kobzar art both within Ukraine and beyond. He is n ...

performed his songs for the participants of the Archaeological Congress held at the Botanical Garden. * In 1908 – 1913 the Botanical Garden housed a zoo.

References

External links

A.V. Fomin Botanical Garden
{{coord, 50.4441, 30.5057, type:landmark_source:enwiki-googlemaplink, display=title Tourist attractions in Kyiv Botanical gardens in Ukraine Institutions with the title of National in Ukraine