| Project Id |
3305 |
| Project Name |
Botanical Garden of National Palace of Queluz, Portugal |
| Description |
The Botanical Garden of the National Palace of Queluz, built around 1770, was destroyed in 1984 by a catastrophic flood. In 2012, a research project was undertaken, anticipating the possibility of an informed reconstruction of the garden, supported by the available documentation and the identification of displaced elements of its masonry and ornamentation which were salvaged from the remains. Queluz was one of four 18th-century botanical gardens built in Portugal which had links to some of the oldest botanical gardens in Europe during the Enlightenment period, such as in Padua (Italy) Madrid (Spain) and Amsterdam (The Netherlands). The discovery of the original botanical index from 1789, which listed all of the plants known to botanists at the time, completed the research and prompted the researchers to make contacts with botanical gardens throughout Europe to request plants from their seed banks or nurseries. |
| Description of the economic, social and environmental impacts of the project |
The botanical collection was established with the support of Botanic Gardens Conservation International and involved several partners in Europe. The restoration was entirely self-financed by funds from Parques de Sintra, obtained exclusively from the income generated by visitors and entrance ticket sales. The project was awarded an EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2018 in the conservation category. “This project has successfully rediscovered and revived a garden which was thought to have been lost, using archaeological investigation, the remaining fragments of the garden and the existing documentation to achieve this aim”, the jury noted. “The project is a nice example of interdisciplinary collaboration which also involved the local community. The dissemination of the results was strong and made the project complete. This will raise awareness of the result and ensure its sustainability”, the jury highlighted. |
| Web links |
http://www.europeanheritageawards.eu/winners/botanical-garden-national-palace-queluz/ |
| Country |
Portugal |
| City size |
Intermediate cities (between 50.000-1 million people) |
