Akureyri Botanical Garden
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The Akureyri Botanical Garden ( is, Lystigarður Akureyrar , regionally also ) is located on the west side of the inland end of the
fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...
Eyjafjörður Eyjafjörður (, ''Island Fjord'') is one of the longest fjords in Iceland. It is located in the central north of the country. Situated by the fjord is the country's fourth most populous municipality, Akureyri. Physical geography The fjord is ...
at about 45 metres elevation. It is located in the southern part of the city of Akureyri in Northern
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, 50 kilometres south of the
Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...
. It is one of the northernmost botanical gardens in the world. In 1910, women from Akureyri founded the Park Association to beautify their city. The previous year the city had given them a hectare of land. The garden, the first public park in Iceland, was headed until 1953 by the Park Society. During this time the garden area increased to 3.6 hectares. Besides being a place of peace and tranquility the garden is a place for scientific research. It has proven that shrubs, trees and other plants can survive on the edge of the Arctic. Jón Rögnvaldsson's plant collection was purchased by the city in 1957. Rögnvaldsson was a leading force in the garden many years, along with Margarethe Schiöth. Both of them are represented by busts in the garden, along with Akureyri clergyman Matthias Jochumsson, the poet of the Icelandic national anthem. Besides arctic plants, those from the temperate zones and high mountains are grown. Icelandic plants are represented by about 400 species in the southeastern corner of the garden. By the end of 2007, there were about 7000 species. In the garden there are public toilets. The entrance to the garden is free, and it is always open. The garden contains a few wooden houses, of which Eyrarlandsstofa is one of the oldest in Akureyri.


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Lystigarður Akureyrar
{{Authority control Akureyri Botanical gardens in Iceland