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Origin and history

Olbius-Riquier Park is a 70,000 m2 municipal garden located in Hyères, Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Ranked a remarkable garden, it houses about 2000 trees and cactus from around the world, as well as an exotic greenhouse with palm trees, bamboo and banana trees. Its origin dates back to a testamentary legacy of Olbius Hippolyte Antoine Riquier at the town hall of Hyères in 1868.

In 1872, an agreement was signed between the municipality and Albert Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, director of the garden of acclimation in Paris, to create a tropical acclimatisation garden on the site, managed by the company Le Gros Pin. This project, an annex to the Parisian garden, aimed to cultivate and study exotic species adaptable to the Mediterranean climate. The palm grove, one of the first in France, was established at the end of the 19th century by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.

After a period of abandonment, the park was rehabilitated between 1965 and 1991. Today, it combines a pleasant and botanical garden, with amenities such as a stretch of water, a ride, a small train, and playgrounds. Once equipped with an animal park (deaths, monkeys, parrots), it is home to more than captive wigs, while peacocks and ducks move freely.

The park also preserves traces of its scientific past, with rare species such as the Howea forsteriana or the Araucaria araucana. The exotic greenhouse, open to the public according to seasonal schedules, continues its original vocation: study and presentation of acclimated tropical flora.

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