Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The botanical garden of Lyon came into being in 1796, when the garden of the convent of the Desert on the slopes of the Croix-Rousse was transformed into a botanical garden under the impulse of Poullain-Grandprey and the Central Administration of the Rhône. In 1803 he became a municipal under the name Jardin des Plantes, housing as early as 1805 some 4,000 native and exotic plants. His creation was led by botanist Jean-Emmanuel Gilibert, a doctor and major figure in the Lyon botany. This first site, despite its educational success, was replaced by a more ambitious project in the mid-19th century.

The present project was born in 1856, when the city of Lyon acquired the marshy terrain of the Brotteaux to create the Parc de la Tête d ́or, under the auspices of Senator Claude-Marius Vaïsse and landscape architect Denis Bühler. The botanical garden was incorporated in 1857, with clear missions: education, conservation and research. Between 1860 and 1880, tropical greenhouses were built to house equatorial floras, while a historic orangery, disassembled stone by stone from the old site, was resettled to winter the plants. The collections quickly enriched, including an arboretum, a botanical school, and spaces dedicated to medicinal or fruit plants.

Orangery, an iconic element, underwent several transformations. Originally built in 1819-1820 on the Desert site, it was moved in 1857 to the new park along the railway. Despite recurring problems of roofing and maintenance, it served as a winter shelter for orange and citrus until the 20th century. In 1899, an expansion of 230 m2 was carried out to meet the growing needs, but its use changed: today it mainly hosts exhibitions, having lost its original function.

The garden's living collections, divided between greenhouses and outdoor spaces, are among the most remarkable in France. There are historical rose groves, alpine plants adapted to the Lyon climate, bamboos, orchids, and Mediterranean geophytes. The herbarium, with 213 000 specimens collected since the 17th century, supports botanical research, while the seed plant preserves more than 5,000 seed species, participating in international exchanges. The library, with its 6,000 books, including 500 before the 18th century, completes this scientific system.

The botanical garden was run by a succession of renowned botanists, from Jean-Emmanuel Gilibert (1796-1808) to Juliette Babin (since 2022). Each director marked his era, such as Nicolas Charles Seringe, who provided public courses in orangery in 1831, or Gustave Bonnet, engineer who had structured the collections in 1859. The missions of the garden — conservation, education and research — remain unchanged, with public workshops and guided tours organised by the Lyon Nature service.

Today, Lyon's botanical garden combines historical heritage and innovation. Its greenhouses, including the one in Madagascar, are home to rare species, while outdoor spaces, such as the alpine garden or the rose garden, illustrate botanical diversity. Ranked among the remarkable gardens, it remains a key place for preserving biodiversity and raising public awareness, while preserving the traces of its past, such as orangery or the park's century-old trees.

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