Main Botanical Garden named after N. V. Tsitsin of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Brief information

The Botanical Garden did not appear in an empty field, but within Ostankino Forest Park: in 1945, a large area with already existing Moscow woodland was allocated for it. As a result, this place can be read on two scales at once. On the one hand, it brings together plants from almost every continent and climate zone. On the other, fragments of the Erdenyevskaya Grove, as part of the Ostankino oak forest, and the Leonovo Forest have been preserved in the garden.

This dual nature is more important than the reference-book title of “the largest botanical garden in Europe.” The garden is arranged as an open-air scientific collection, but part of its value lies in the fact that the former forest did not disappear, but became the foundation of the territory. After the merger with VDNH and Ostankino Park in 2014, the dividing fence with VDNH was removed, and the garden became part of a larger urban space.

What to notice first

It is worth comparing three types of garden organization. The botanical-geographical displays of natural flora divide plants by territory: the European part of Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia, the Far East, and useful plants of the natural flora. The arboretum is organized differently: trees and shrubs are grouped according to a systematic principle, meaning that representatives of the same genus grow as one mass, taking into account their ecological characteristics and future size. This makes it clear that the garden presents plants not only as a landscape, but also as a scientific order.

A separate focus is the new Stock Greenhouse. Its building is over 33.6 meters high and divided into sections with different climatic parameters for humid forests, the tropics, and the subtropics. Inside, cascades of pools, waterfalls, a river, artificial terrain, paths, rocks, and grottoes are mentioned. Here the natural environment is not merely depicted: climate-control equipment creates rain, mist, irrigation, soil heating, and dome heating.