![Orchidiarium - Medellin Botanical Gardens](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Orchidiarium_-_Medellin_Botanical_Gardens.jpg)
The Joaquin Antonio Uribe Botanical Garden of Medellín ( es, Joaquin Antonio Uribe Jardín Botánico de Medellín), more simply known as the Botanical Garden of Medellín, is a 14-hectare
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
in
Medellín
Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...
, Colombia. The botanical garden has 4,500 flowers and 139 recorded bird species. It has an important collection of orchids preserved in an architectural space called the "Orchideorama".
Description
The entrance pavilion to the botanical garden was designed by Lorenzo Castro and Ana Elvira Vélez. The garden includes a butterfly house, cactus garden, exhibition spaces, library, and pond. A plan to create an additional pavilion was rejected and a competition for local architects was devised to come up with a new structure for the park.
The winners of the project designed the Orchideorama. This structure was jointly designed by
Plan B Architects and JPRCR Architects. The structure is 65-feet high. It is a wood meshwork canopy with ten hexagonal flower-tree structures that collect rainwater and shelter an orchid collection and butterfly reserves.
History
In the late nineteenth century, the land now occupied by the botanical garden began was a farm known as The Bathhouse of Eden (''la Casa de Baños El Edén''). The farm was originally owned by Mr. Victor Arango, and then his sisters and family listed on the deed.
The garden was temporarily closed due to high crime rates in the area. A plan was created to demolish the gardens but these were changed in favor of making renovations to the park.
It acquired the name "Joaquín Antonio Uribe Botanical Garden" in 1972 when the facilities were enlarged to add a much larger collection of plant species, an auditorium, library, museum, and spacious dining areas for visitors.
Gallery
File:Botanical Garden Medellin.JPG, Cactus garden
File:Ardea alba - Weimar Meneses.jpg, Great egret
The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...
in water
File:Orquídea-Medellin-1.jpg, Orchids
File:Common Green Iguana.jpg, Adult green iguana in a tree above the lagoon
File:Huso Palm.jpg, Palmiste Marron
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botanical Garden of Medellin
Parks in Medellín
Botanical gardens in Colombia