Amsterdam’s Hortus Botanicus grew from a 1638 medicinal garden into a living botanical collection. At the Plantage site since 1682, it brings historic catalogues, glasshouses, plant science and the city’s global trade histories together.
Quick facts
The Hortus was founded in 1638 as Amsterdam’s medicinal garden and moved to its current Plantage site in 1682.
Johannes Snippendaal catalogued 796 plant species in 1646; plants in today’s Snippendaal Garden appeared in that list, though its layout is modern.
The Palm House was built in 1911–12 as a replacement palm-and-fern greenhouse and is part of the protected historic garden complex.
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Guide
At Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, a garden bed can preserve a piece of history without pretending to recreate the past. The Snippendaal Garden contains plants recorded in a 1646 catalogue, but its present arrangement is modern: the original beds are unknown. That distinction captures the character of this place. It is a living botanical collection, continually tended, layered over nearly four centuries of teaching, collecting, research and civic care.
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