Botanical Garden Balcik

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Bulgaria - Sofia

Institution Code:

BGCI Member: No

About the Botanical Garden Balcik

The chief attraction in Balcik is the wonderful Botanical Garden. Its ten hectares surround the small summer palace of the Romanian Queen Marie. (The area was part of Romania between 1913 and 1940). The attractive villa has the unusual addition of a minaret. The gardens are set on a steep hillside, and descend in six terraces to the sea - supposedly one for each of the Queen's children. There are over three thousand varieties of shrubs, roses and flowers, set among streams, waterfalls, and ornamental channels. There is a rock garden, a formal French one with clipped box cones and geometric beds, and an astonishing collection of cacti. Interspersed are stone thrones, seats, pillars and ornaments collected by the Queen.

The Botanical garden forms part of the teaching facilities of the University of Sofia.

Main Address:
Botanical Garden Balcik
P.O. Box 834
1000 SOFIA
Sofia
Bulgaria

Telephone: 0359 579 72 058
Fax: 0359 579 76 338
URL: http://www.uni-sofia.bg/resources/botan/index.html
Primary Email: ubg_sofia@abv.bg

Staff Details

  • Director's Name: Dr. Krasimir Kosev
    Curator's Name:
    Plant Records Officer's Name:
  • Total Staff:
    Horticultural Staff Number: 35
    Educational Staff Number: 1
    Research Staff Number: 4
    Administration Staff Number: 4

About the Garden

  • Institution Type: Botanic Garden
  • Date founded: 1955
  • Physical Data
  • Total Area: 20 Hectares
    Latitude: 42.7105
    Longitude: 23.3238
    Altitude: 0.00 Metres
    Total area of glasshouses: 1332 Metres

Features and Facilities

  • Herbarium: Yes
    Herbarium: Number of Specimens: 300
    Arboretum: No
  • Micropropagation/ Tissue Culture Facilities: No
    Seed Bank: Yes
  • Number of Visitors: 400000

Plant Collections

  • Cultivation Taxa Num: 3800
  • Special Collections:There are more than 3000 plant species from all over the world grown in the Botanical garden, including many white poplars - some over 300 years old - and about 1000 cacti. The collection of large sized cacti species grown in an open area is one of the biggest attractions. It is the second one of its kind in Europe after Monaco, Monte Carlo. Some 450 botanical gardens worldwide contributed to the collection. In the garden you can see some exotic plants such as: a candy tree, a paper tree, an ancient Ginkgo biloba, the resurrected Metasequoia glyptostroboides, sand lily, olives and many others. They belong to 35 families and 800 genera demonstrating an incredible diversity of varieties and forms.

Conservation Programmes

  • Conservation Programme: Yes
    Medicinal Plant Programme: Yes
    Reintroduction Programme: Yes

Research Programmes

  • Education: Yes

Education Programmes