Almaty Botanical Garden

Almaty Botanical Garden (Kazakh: Алматы ботаникалық бағы) is the main botanical garden of Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Owned by the Republican "Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction" of the Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science, it was founded in 1932 on an area of 108 hectares. In 1967, it was given the status of a research institution. In 2006, the Botanical Garden was included in the list of "Specially Protected Natural Areas of the Republic of Kazakhstan" (SPNA), which made it possible to stop the further sale of the garden land for construction.

History

On March 14, 1932, the presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences decided to organize the Kazakhstan base of the USSR Academy of Sciences with the botanical sector and the zoological sector and the creation of the botanical garden.

On December 15, 1933, the presidium approved the structure of the Kazakhstan base, which included the botanical sector with the botanical garden.

In 1943, the Soil-Botanical Institute of the Kazakh branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences was established on the basis of the soil and botanical sectors.

In 1945, the Soil-Botanical Institute was divided into the Institute of Soil Science and the Institute of Botany.

In 1946, by the decision of the Presidium of the Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences on October 5, 1946, the botanical garden was reorganized into an independent research institution of national importance with direct subordination to the Presidium of the Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences as the Institute – the Republican Botanical Garden.

In 1953, by the decree of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR from September 21, 1953, the "State Republican Botanical Garden" was renamed the "Alma-Ata Botanical Garden".

In 1963, the decree of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR on March 22, 1963, "Alma-Ata botanical garden" was transferred to the Institute of Botany.

In 1965, by the decree of the general meeting of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR from January, 27th, 1965, the Main botanical garden on the basis of the "Alma-Ata botanical garden of the Institute of Botany" was organized as an independent research institute.

In 1995, the decision of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan on May 5, 1995, was merged with the Institute of Botany "and Research Institute of" Main Botanical Gardens "in" the Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction of Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences ". Currently, the Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction is under the jurisdiction of the Committee of Forestry and Wildlife of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Threat of liquidation

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the territory of the Almaty Botanical Garden, located in the elite district of the city, became interesting to big businessmen-developers. In order to freely take possession of the state land of the garden, its territory was transferred from the republican jurisdiction (ownership) to the municipal jurisdiction of the city authorities (akimat). In the early 2000s, after the transfer of the territory into municipal ownership, the Almaty Botanical Garden was on the verge of elimination. Several hectares of land were alienated with the permission of the new owners (the akimat of the city). There were plans to sell the entire territory of the botanical garden for the construction of an elite cottage city, an entertainment center, a residential complex and to lay through it the highways of Baizakov and Manas streets. But since 2006, in connection with the official inclusion of the territory of the Almaty botanical garden in the list of "Specially Protected Natural Areas of National importance" and return to the republican property, the sale and development of the territory of the garden became impossible. However, attempts to take over the territory of the garden have not stopped.

In 2015, oligarch-developer Serzhan Zhumashev became interested in the Botanical Garden, who through his "Fund for the Development of the Main Botanical Garden" offered to sponsor the reconstruction of the garden and build an art museum from the side of Al-Farabi Avenue.

In 2018, another businessman oligarch, Bulat Utemuratov, became interested in botanical garden, and through his "B. Utemuratov Foundation" he intended to reconstruct the garden. At the same time, the akimat of the city stated that it intended to take the botanical garden back into municipal ownership.

Location

The garden is located in the southern part of Almaty at an altitude of 856–906 meters above sea level. Currently, its area is 103.6 hectares.

Area

At the time of its foundation in 1932, the garden's area was 108 hectares. In 2006, it was 104 hectares. Nowadays, it is 103.6 hectares. After 2006, from the territory of the garden despite its status as a protected area, part of the garden area was alienated in an unknown way.

Exposition

As of 1982, the expositions (flora of Kazakhstan, the European part of the USSR, Siberia and the Far East, Crimea and the Caucasus, North America, East Asia) were arranged according to the botanical-geographical principle, and the placement of plants was according to the park-landscape principle. The collection contained over 7 thousand species of plants, varieties and forms, including flora of Kazakhstan - 375, foreign plants of the USSR - 453, foreign - 872.