On the occasion of the celebration of its 270th anniversary, from 13 to 19 October, visitors to the Real Jardín Botánico can enjoy guided and theatrical tours, exhibitions, the presentation of a book, a conference about its history or cinema. On Friday 17 the entrance to the Garden will be free and your staff will interact that day with the attendees.
On 17 October 1755, King Ferdinand VI signed the decree creating the Real Jardín Botánico in a different location from today’s, the orchard of Migas Calientes. It was in 1781, by decision of his brother Charles III, that the RJB settled at its present location.
The anniversary activities start on Monday 13 with the opening of the photographic exhibition A walk through the Real Jardín Botánico in pictures. The exhibition, which can be visited outdoors, offers a visual journey through the history of the Real Jardín Botánico with images from the mid-19th century to the 1970s. The objective is to make known the rich and complex history of the Garden as a scientific institution, urban space and cultural heritage, highlighting its role in Madrid’s life and its value as a place of collective memory.
This exhibition is intended to pay tribute to the people who have given life to the RJB in these 270 years: gardeners, researchers, teachers, visitors and citizens, who over more than two centuries have made it a place of science, culture and public enjoyment.
The scientific expeditions, one of the important actions linked to the RJB, are the argument for offering on Tuesday 14, within the cycle ‘Cinema in the Garden’, the film Homo Botanicus (Colombia, 2017) by Guillermo Quintero. The documentary film will be presented by the researcher of the CSIC Javier Fuertes, a great connoisseur of Colombia’s plant biodiversity. Tickets for the film are already sold out.
The history of RJB is reviewed through the word on Wednesday 15 at 18 hours. María Teresa Telleria, the first woman to direct the Real Jardín Botánico, will give the conference Las joyas del Jardín: una historia de ilustración. At the end of the talk, with free admission until the capacity of the room, the so-called Sala Invernadero de los Bonsáis will be renamed Sala de Exposiciones María Teresa Telleria in recognition of the scientific work of this researcher who, In addition to being the first director of RJB between 1994 and 2006, she was also the first deputy director of the centre between 1985 and 1994.
Without moving from the auditorium, on Thursday 16, in the framework of the 10th edition of the cycle ‘El jardín escrito’ that coordinates the RJB-CSIC Library, will be presented the book Los jardines de la Alhambra y el Generalife, by José Tito Rojo. This book offers a new and updated view of these gardening gems. It is divided into two separate but complementary reading volumes. The first is devoted to general themes: the territory, the typologies of cultivated spaces and, above all, to the singular landscape history of both monuments. The second volume contains a detailed study of each of the gardens, devoting special attention to the most important, the courtyards of the Acequia, the Arrayanes and the Leones, which together with the Partal gardens underpin the landscape fame of the Alhambra and the Generalife.
Guided tours will be held at the weekend. On Saturday 18, the Garden takes the stage. A hundred people will enjoy the whole morning, for about 45 minutes and divided into five groups of a fun theatrical walk that will carry out Impromadrid actors, improvisers experts who will become some of the most emblematic characters of the RJB. Characterized by the architect Juan de Villanueva, the botanist of French origin Claudio Boutelou or the botanical researcher Elena Paunero, will discover this unique institute of botanical research. The activity is aimed at adults.
The week of activities for the 270o anniversary closes on Sunday 19 with guided tours to the Garden taking as reference the photographic exhibition and framed in the program Madrid Otra Mirada (MOM) which is organized by the City Council of the capital to meet emblematic spaces and buildings of Madrid. All the activities listed are free, but require prior booking already open on the institutional website of RJB.