The Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid (CSIC) Spain and the Padre Julio Marrero Botanical Garden of Ecuador join forces through science and art

News published: 2 December 2022

The exhibition Quito Botanic Art in Spanish scientific expeditions (Arte Botánico Quiteño en las expediciones científicas españolas) that opened on Monday, November 21, 2022, in Quito (Ecuador), at the Cultural Center of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE), marks the beginning of the inter-institutional cooperation framework agreement signed between this Ecuadorian University and the Superior Council of Scientific Investigations (CSIC) for the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid and the Padre Julio Marrero Botanical Garden of Santo Domingo to collaborate in areas such as research, training and education, the exchange of collections or the dissemination and popularization of science. The Faculty of Biology of PUCE and its long-establiched QCA Herbarium are also essential to this alliance.

The director of the Royal Botanical Garden-CSIC, Estaban Manrique Reol, has positively valued this agreement which, in his words, “wil allow the two botanical gardens to promote collaboration between their scientists and technical research groups in actions such as the joint development of scientific and technological research projects, the exchange of research and technical personnel, cooperate in the edition of scientific publications and articles or jointly organize courses, conference cycles, congresses, seminars or training programs”.

This exhibition, in the opinion of Esteban Manrique, is “ a first and good example of this cooperation by allowing to show to the Ecuadorian society the result of two scientific expeditions, those directed by José Celestino Mutis, on the one hand, and Hipólito Ruiz and José Pavón, on the other hand, that not only brought plants to Spain, but also two magnificent collections of drawings that have helped a lot to the study of certain plants to numerous scientists and that also suppose a great artistic contribution since some of this drawings are true jewels of botanical art”.

The rector of PUCE, Fernando Ponce SJ, stressed the strategic nature of the agreement with the CSIC and initiatives like this, in line with the university´s commitment to the study and conservation of Ecuadorian botany. For her part, the rector of the PUCE Santo Domingo campus, María Luján González, agreed with the director of the RJB-CSIC in highlighting the importance of this collaboration agreement.
Reference drawings of the two Ecuador Expeditions

The exhibition in made up of high quality reproductions of 70 drawings, 42 belonging to the collection of the Royal Botanical Expedition of the New Kingdom of Granada and 28 from the expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru. “In both cases, the selection of drawings, both from Mutis collection and the expedition of Ruiz y Pavón, is base don the representation of native species of the flora of Ecuador that were made by artists from Quito”, said the head of the Historical Archive RJB-CSIC, Esther García Guillén, who is curating the exhibition on behalf of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid.