Montjuic Historic Sensorial Botanical Garden

Below is a tranlated and abridged extract from the botanical garden website.

The 1929 International Exposition provided an opportunity to integrate Mount Montjuic into Barcelona's urban fabric. The plan was to transform the mountain into a large urban park, the second in the city after Ciutadella Park.

as a consequnce of having to quary large amounts of stone to build the Palacio nacional for the universal 1929 International Exposition a number of stone quaries were left over after construction was completed. On of these quaries was transformed into an outdoor greek theatre and these two quaries were transformed into gardens.

As part of preparations for the Expo, Pius Font i Quer was commissioned to build a botanical garden. In 1930, with more determination than money, Font i Quer began to assemble a remarkable collection of endemic and rare plants, mainly originating from the Iberian peninsula, the Balearic Islands and Morocco.

In 1940, Antoni de Bolos took over as director of the Botanical Garden, introducing new collections of plants from the Pyrenees and the Balearic Islands. In the same year, the Institut Botanic was transferred to the Garden. Thanks to the work of Font i Quer and the Municipal Board of Natural Science Museums, the Institut Botanic now boasted the most outstanding herbaria and the best specialist botanical library in Catalonia.

The Historic Botanical Garden was officially opened to the public on 17 July 1941. Despite all the difficulties encountered at the time, some of the rarest plants from North Africa and Spain were successfully grown there. Thanks to the efforts made by the Garden, the perennial Menorca Loosestrife (Lysimachia minoricensis) was saved from extinction. Now grown in many botanic gardens, this species was reintroduced to natural habitats in 1954, the year that Antoni de Bolos began and announced the first replanting in the Iberian peninsula of a species that was extinct in its natural habitat.

In 1986, the need to construct an access routes to the new Olympic facilities seriously affected the stability of the vertical walls, and the Garden was closed. Later, restoration and consolidation works were carried out and garden was re-opened to the public in October 2003.

Since November 2004, Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) has managed maintenance of the whole site.

Because it is enclosed by steep slopes and situated on Montjuic's shady side, cold air accumulates at its lowest levels. As a result, temperatures can be up to four degrees colder at the bottom than in the upper areas of the garden. This favours the growth of Euro-Siberian plant species typical of colder climates.

Montjuic Historic Botanical gardens opening hours

November, December, January: All days 10:00h to 17:00h.

February, March: All days 10:00h to 18:00h.

April, May, September, October: All days 10:00h to 19:00h.

June, July, August: All days 10:00h to 20:00h.

Note: last admission half an hour before closing time.

The garden is Closed on January 1, May 1, June 24 and December 25

Note: The historic botanical garden is a separate garden to the Montjuic (modern) Botanical garden.

Nearest TMB Metro is Plaza Espana on the green (L3) and Red L1) lines.

The TMB 150 Bus also stops at Palau Sant Jordi which is a short walk from MNAC and the historic botanical gardens.