Donetsk Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was opened on June 25, 1964. It is one of the largest gardens in Europe with an area of 270 hectares, which has collected on its territory more than 8 thousand species and 2000 varieties of unique living plants. On their basis 56 species of ornamental, fruit and fodder plants acclimatized to the conditions of waterless steppe and an environment of anthropogenic pollution have been grown. Such achievements of garden scientists are especially valuable for science, because these plants are not affected by even the most extreme conditions.
The first director and founder of the botanical garden was the famous scientist Kondratyuk E.N. It was during these years that the first botanical collection of plants was gathered and the main research directions of the garden development were defined. It was in Donetsk garden that industrial botany, studying the interaction of industrial environment with green plants, got a start in life. The main scientific directions of the botanical garden are: research in industrial botany, selection of new plant varieties, creation of demanded collections of flora in order to save the gene pool, research methods of restoration of technogenically disturbed agricultural land.
For a long period of the garden’s functioning the main results of scientific developments have become extensive collections of plants, representing the abundance of the flora of our planet. The garden is located along the Bogodukhov gully. Under the glass there are 1200 square meters of five greenhouses with artificially created conditions of tropics and subtropics, so that visitors can admire the view of exotic plants grown in the garden.
More than 130 thousand plants have been tested by introduction and the most resistant to this climate have been selected.
Donets Botanical Garden regularly exchanges seeds, plants, its own achievements and scientific developments with 78 botanical research institutions from 32 countries. It closely cooperates with Nikitsky, Krivoy Rog, Zaporizhzhya, Kiev gardens of Ukraine and abroad.
This botanical garden is popular not only among the residents of the city, but also among tourists, because during its existence it became known in many countries far and near abroad. The botanical garden is among the most visited attractions of Donetsk. The gorgeous «man-made forest» — a natural monument, is visited by newlyweds to capture the extraordinary beauty of tropical plants and alleys of the park. A walk through the garden will give you unforgettable impressions, because the width of walking paths allows you to see every plant and every petal. Since its creation, the botanical garden has become one of the most picturesque and colorful places of the industrial Donbass.