Anastasie Fătu Botanical Garden, Iași

The Anastasie Fătu Botanical Garden lies on Copou Hill (Dealul Copoului) in the north of Iași and belongs to Alexandru Ioan Cuza University. It is regarded as the oldest botanical garden in Romania: the first one was founded on 10 August 1856 by Anastasie Fătu at Râpa Galbenă and lasted until his death in 1886, when his heirs sold the land. The institution moved several times. In 1873 the Society of Physicians and Naturalists created a second garden, organised by Dimitrie Brândză, and in 1921 Professor Alexandru Popovici laid out a new one behind the University building, used until 1963. That year the decision was taken to move it to Copou Hill under Professor Emilian Țopa, and under the direction of Mandache Leocov (from 1973) the area grew from 43 to over 100 hectares. Scientific work is organised in ten sections, a herbarium and a laboratory. The largest is the Flora and Vegetation of Romania section (25 ha), while the Systematic section by the main gate grows about 850 taxa arranged by their natural relationships. The rosarium holds more than 800 rose taxa on 1.6 hectares, and the Ornamental section keeps a collection of over 400 chrysanthemum taxa. There is also a subsection for visually impaired visitors, with aromatic plants labelled in Braille. The greenhouse complex covers 5,500 m², has 21 compartments and houses about 2,210 taxa from subtropical, tropical and equatorial regions, grouped in houses such as the Mediterranean house, the Palmarium, the cycad house, the tropical house and the cactus house. Visitors enter only from Strada Dumbrava Roșie no. 7, and the greenhouses keep separate opening hours from the outdoor sections.