The Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: ''Königliche-Sächsische Forstakademie'') in

Tharandt Tharandt () is a municipality in Saxony, Germany, situated on the Weißeritz, 9 miles southwest of Dresden. It has a Protestant Church and the oldest academy of forestry in Germany, founded as the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry by Heinrich Cotta ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, near

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, was founded by silviculturist

Heinrich Cotta Johann Heinrich Cotta, also Heinrich von Cotta, (30 October 1763 – 25 October 1844) was a German silviculturist who was a native of Kleine Zillbach, near Wasungen, Thuringia. He was founder of the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry, in Tharandt, ...

in 1811. Established in conjunction with the school, and later integrated with it, was the

Forstbotanischer Garten Tharandt The Forstbotanischer Garten Tharandt (; 33.4 hectares), also known as the Sächsisches Landesarboretum (‘Saxony State Arboretum’), is an arboretum maintained by the Dresden University of Technology. It is among the oldest arboreta in the wor ...

, one of the oldest arboreta in the world. Its legacy lives on today as a campus of the

Dresden University of Technology TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...

and site of that institution's Department of Forestry.

History

In Saxony, as in other parts of Germany, there were concerns that forests might be over-exploited and needed to be properly managed. In 1810, Heinrich Cotta was appointed to a government forestry post under

Frederick Augustus I of Saxony pl, Fryderyk August Józef Maria Antoni Jan Nepomucen Alojzy Ksawery , image = Frederick Augustus I of Saxony by Marcello Bacciarelli (ca 1808-1809).png , caption = Portrait by Marcello Bacciarelli (1809) , succession = King of Saxony , coron ...

. He also taught forestry, but the forestry school was initially run on a private basis. In 1813, the school was visited by

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

. In 1816, after the end of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, Cotta obtained state support for the school, which became the ''Königlich-Sächsische Forstakademie''. Apart from Germans, it attracted a number of foreign students, including a contingent from Russia. In 1841 Cotta was given an award by

Tsar Nicholas I , house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp , father = Paul I of Russia , mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) , birth_date = , birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire , death_date = ...

in recognition of his efforts at Tharandt. By the time of

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

in 1990, the College of Forestry (Forstliche Hochschule) had already been integrated into the

(DUT).

Arboretum

Among the oldest arboreta in the world, the Forstbotanischer Garten Tharandt, was established by Cotta in the same year as the Academy. Five years later, in 1816, it was integrated administratively with the College. Today it belongs to the Faculty of Environmental Sciences of the Dresden University. It is open to the public from April to October, and the admission is free of charge.Dresden University of Technology, Aboretum
German, retrieved 11 March 2014.

Legacy

The school lives on today as a campus of the Dresden University of Technology, and site of its Department of Forestry, which continues to train foresters. The arboretum was expanded most recently in 1998. Today it contains some 2,000

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

and varieties of woody plants. Its museum is housed in the Schweizerhaus Tharandt. In 2002, a severe flood destroyed many of the academy buildings and the library, including some of its more-than-500-year-old books. The academy was rebuilt and today has about 650 students and is famous for its long traditions of educating students from all over the world in forestry (including a programme in tropical forestry), resource management and sustainable land use.

History

Arboretum

Legacy

References

See also