Photography exhibition “50 Years of Vilnius University Botanical Garden in Kairėnai”
On 14 May 2024, Vilnius University Botanical Garden celebrated its 50th anniversary in Kairėnai. On this occasion, a photography exhibition “50 Years of Vilnius University Botanical Garden in Kairėnai” was opened at the Botanical Garden Museum, which told the story of the significant stages of the Garden’s development. The exhibition was later presented in the library of the VU Central Palace and is now presented in a new space – the Green Building of the Botanical Garden.
The exhibition of photographs by S. Žilinskaitė, V. Stanevičius, A. Ufartas, A. Levickas, I. Raubaitė and other authors shows how rich, varied and well-groomed plant collections have emerged in the places of once raw meadows and scrublands. To be more precise, they did not appear, but were planted and cultivated by people who dedicated their lives to the Botanical Garden, and whose daily work was accompanied by amusing incidents.
In 1974, after realising that Vingis Park had become too cramped for the Botanical Garden and the University’s plans for research, experimental work and study programmes, a huge new plot of land of almost 150 hectares in Kairėnai was allocated to the Botanical Garden. This included fields and woodlands, the abandoned Kairėnai Manor, and the dwellings and outbuildings of local residents.
Establishing a botanical garden in such a place was not a simple or an easy task. A few decades later, the Botanical Garden was already famous for the largest plant collections in Lithuania and the most outstanding in the Baltic region. Today, the number of registered plant specimens in the Kairėnai Garden, together with the Vingis section, is over 11 000 thousand, including 9 939 unique plant names.
The VU Botanical Garden has been open to visitors since 2000. The number of visitors to the Garden has grown rapidly over the decades: in 2005 it reached 15 000, 57 000 in 2011, and 143 000 in 2023. The Garden is a place for educational and cultural activities.
Today, the VU Botanical Garden has five departments: one in Vingis and four in Kairėnai (Administration and Economy, Scientific Programmes, Plant Collections and Communications and Services). The Botanic Garden employs more than 100 people: scientists, curators of plant collections, specialists, gardeners and garden workers.
Come and see the history of the garden captured in photographs!
WHERE: VU Botanical Garden, Green Building (Kairėnų g. 43, Vilnius).
WHEN: You can visit the exhibition during the opening hours of the garden, from Monday to Friday 8.00-18.00, and from Saturday to Sunday 10.00-18.00.
TICKETS: Admission is subject to the purchase of a garden visitor ticket.
