Botanical Garden of the Comenius University

Botanical Garden of the Comenius University
Entrance of the Botanical Garden of the Comenius University in Bratislava
Type	Botanical garden
Location	Botanická Street No. 3, Mlynská dolina neighborhood of Karlova Ves
Area	6.6 hectares (66,000 m2)
Created	1942 (1942)
Operated by	Comenius University
Open	from April to October
Website	Official webpage (in Slovak)

Botanical Garden of the Comenius University (Slovak: Botanická záhrada UK) is the only botanical garden in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is located in the Karlova Ves borough, next to the Old Town district and the Lafranconi Bridge by the Bratislava Riverfront and it contains over 4,000 plant species (including 1,200 species of cacti) covering an area of 6.6 hectares.

Botanical Garden of the Comenius University is a scientific and pedagogical institution administered by the Comenius University. Its purpose is the maintenance and expansion of its collection of living plants, providing educational support and providing expert botanical information to the public. It also serves as a facility for experimental acclimatisation of non-local plant species for use in forestry and orchard farming. Botanical Garden of the Comenius University is the oldest public botanical garden in Slovakia. It is open to the public from 1 April to 31 October each year during the day and the entrance is paid.

In the 16th century the medical doctor Juraj Purkircher (1530-1578), a citizen of Bratislava (known under various names throughout its history), had a small botanical garden next to his house which was visited by the famous botanist Carolus Clusius during his trip to the Kingdom of Hungary. In the year 1653, the Archbishop of Esztergom György Lippay transformed the garden of the Episcopal Summer Palace in Bratislava into a botanical garden designed to serve scientific and popularisation needs. It was the first botanical garden of this type in the Kingdom of Hungary.