Botanic Garden
Marie Curie-Skłodowska University
ul. Sławinkowska 3
20-810 Lublin
Tel. (81) 743 49 00
botanik@hektor.umcs.lublin.pl
www.garden.umcs.lublin.pl
A valid ticket is required (prices are available on the website).
Opening hours: April (mid-month – depending on weather) – 14 May
Mondays – Fridays: 9 am – 7 pm
Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: 10 am – 7 pm
15 May – 31 July
Mondays – Fridays: 9 am – 8 pm
Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: 10 am – 8 pm
August
Mondays – Fridays: 9 am – 7 pm
Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: 10 am – 7 pm
September
Mondays – Fridays: 9 am – 6 pm
Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: 10 am – 6 pm
October
Mondays – Fridays: 9 am – 5 pm
Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: 10 am – 5 pm
Greenhouses open:
Mondays – Fridays: 10 am – 2 pm;
closed on Bank Holidays and during student classes.
Group visits (advance booking is essential if a guide is required). Entry to the garden – ul. Willowa (between nos. 58 and 60).
Director of the Garden: Grażyna Szymczak PhD
The idea to create a Botanical Garden at the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University was first put forward in the first year of the university’s existence. In 1945, Professors Józef Motyka (who set up the Department of Botany) and Adam Paszewski appointed a committee to carry out the project on the Sławinek estate (approval was not granted until
1951). After many years of effort and dedication, and the work of many people, on 23 February 1965, the Botanical Garden was opened within the Faculty of Plant Systematics. This date marks the beginning of the existence of the garden. The garden is located on richly diversified land consisting of natural loess ravines, the Czechówka river valley and ponds. Sławinek, which was once a small farm, has a rich history. In the second half of the 18th century, the manor house located in the garden, which was reconstructed at the turn of the 1960s/1970s, belonged to Jan Nepomucen Kościuszko, the paternal uncle of Tadeusz. The properties of the spring waters found in Sławinek Park, which contain magnesium and iron oxides, determined its development as a health resort. The facility survived until the First World War, and the sources which supplied water to the ponds were in operation until the 1960s. The basic outlines of today’s garden were laid out in 1964–1970, and on 30 April 1974 the garden was opened to visitors. Currently it functions as an entity within the university. It covers an area of 21.25 ha in the northwestern part of the city and contains nearly 7,000 plant taxa located in several sections of the garden: Alliums and Bulbous Plants, Dendrology (Arboretum), South and South-East European Plants, Biblical Plants, Polish Flora, Alpine Plants (Alpinarium), Ornamental Plants, a Rosarium, Plant Systematics, Tropical and Subtropical Plants, Domesticated Plants and Aquatic and Wetland Plants, and well as thematic collections: daylilies (150 taxa), peonies (approx. 70 taxa), bearded irises (330 taxa), dahlias (110 varieties). The garden’s main function is to collect plant materials from all over the world as well as scientific documentation of these collections for research and teaching purposes. An equally important part of this mission is the protection of biodiversity, in particular by acquiring and creating, in ex situ conditions, collections of legally protected species, threatened by extinction or rare in Polish flora. The collection includes 181 species of protected plants (including 129 endangered ones) and 118 species which are endangered or threatened with extinction and which are included in the Polish Red Book of Plants (2014), as well as 215 species listed in the Polish Red List of Ferns and Flowers (2016), 10 of which are protected in Europe by the Bern Convention. The garden’s resources, i.e. the plants, are used by teachers and students of schools in Lublin and the Lublin region, as well as the staff and students of schools of higher education in Lublin and throughout Poland. Field activities, as well as school and student internships take place here. The Botanical Garden in Lublin is a tourist attraction and a place where people can rest, as well as being a permanent feature of nature tours. For several years, many educational, recreational and cultural events have been organized here, including various competitions, exhibitions, and themed walks with a guide. The garden also contains an educational path ‛Zobacz, poznaj i pomóż je chronić. Polskie rośliny chronione, rzadkie i zagrożone’ (Look, explore and help protect. Polish protected, rare and endangered plants). There is also a sensory path with a herbal gazebo and flowerbeds for people with visual impairments.
