Moscow

Apothecary Kitchen Garden

The Apothecary Kitchen Garden in the former 1-ya Meshchanskaya Street is the oldest surviving botanical research institution in Russia.
In the early 18th century, Moscow had four state-financed apothecary kitchen gardens, which not only catered for pharmacies’ needs for crude medicine but also carried out medical and biological research. One of those was the kitchen garden of the Main Pharmacy which also served as a training facility for pharmacists.

Peter I showed interest in arranging the Apothecary Kitchen Garden, devised its layout, selected planting material and, according to the legend, participated in planting work personally. Originally, the Kitchen Garden was managed by botanists invited from abroad, mainly from Germany which had a centuries-long tradition of setting up medical gardens.

In 1706, the Apothecary Kitchen Garden was placed under management of the Main Military Hospital established by order of Peter I which later became known as the Medical and Surgical Academy. In 1805, after the Academy had moved to St. Petersburg, the Apothecary Kitchen Garden was acquired by the Moscow University, transformed into a botanical garden and gradually grew into a scientific center.The regular layout of the old part of the garden was later provided with landscape elements typical of the early 19th century.

The garden was heavily damaged during the Patriotic War of 1812 and was rehabilitated by the mid-19th century.

In the Soviet era, the Botanical Garden gradually fell into decay. The Second World War inflicted enormous damage on its collections. In the mid-20th century, the collections of plants stopped being replenished, and greenhouses and maintenance buildings deteriorated due to cuts in financing.

In 1973, the garden was declared a monument of history and culture and placed under state protection. Old greenhouses were rehabilitated and new ones were built, the collections of living plants began to be replenished.

Some features of the layout dating from the 18th century still can be seen in the today’s Botanical Garden which occupies an area of 6.5 hectares.  The garden has a white willow which is the oldest tree in Moscow and a larch which, according to the legend, was planted by Peter I. Today, it is a branch of the Botanical Garden of the Biology Faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The Garden continues to engage in research, training and educational activities.