Jardin botanique de l'Arquebuse

Gardens in Dijon

Jardin Arquebuse - Dijon — CC BY-SA 4.0 / Chabe01

The Jardin botanique de l’Arquebuse in Dijon, Côte-d’Or, Bourgogne, France, is a botanical garden and arboretum that spans over 2 hectares, set within a larger park area of 5 hectares. This garden is steeped in history, situated on the site of 16th-century training grounds for arquebus-bearing chevaliers. By the late 18th century, the last captain of the chevaliers transformed these grounds into an English garden designed by the renowned landscaper Jean-Marie Morel. In 1803, this site was acquired by the city.

In 1833, plants from Dijon’s initial botanical garden, established in 1771 by the writer Bénigne Legouz de Gerland, were relocated here. This move formed the basis of the present-day botanical garden, which in 2002 was designated as a Conservatoire Botanique Régional.

Today, the Jardin botanique de l’Arquebuse houses nearly 4,000 plant species, with a particular focus on the flora native to Bourgogne. The garden’s plant collections are impressively diverse, including a systematic collection of 3,352 taxa, regional flora consisting of 1,423 taxa, 789 species of French native plants, and 1,140 species from around the globe. These collections feature ornamental plants, food plants, succulents, carnivorous plants, subtropical plants, and Mediterranean plants.

Additionally, the garden boasts an arboretum, a herbarium with around 100,000 specimens, several greenhouses, a botany school, and an extensive collection of Anatidae, which includes various species of wild ducks, geese, and swans.

Open daily without charge, the Jardin botanique de l’Arquebuse provides a rich educational and recreational experience, blending botanical science with the tranquility of nature, right in the heart of Dijon.

The Jardin botanique de l'Arquebuse appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Dijon!

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