The Exotic Garden of Monaco has announced that it is “closed for renovation work and to make the site safer. It will open at the end of Summer 2025.” According to a recent news article in Monaco-Matin, the reopening should take place by the end of October.
In 2020, the Garden first announced that they will be closed for 1-2 years for “renovation and safety work.” But the undertaking proved to take more time than anticipated. Five walkways were renovated and extensive works to restore the garden’s rock faces, which pose a risk to visitors, had to be done.
Daily photographs of rare plants
For the past five years, while the gardens have been closed, the Garden has been faithfully posting beautiful images and descriptions of various plants and flowers every day on the Exotic Garden’s facebook page.
“It now covers 2m2 in the American shelter: this Echinocereus huascha still offers us beautiful colours for this back to school week,” wrote the Exotic Garden on September 2nd.
Botanical Centre is Still Open
The Botanical Centre encompasses the greenhouses located outside the Garden’s grounds, first created in the 1960s and directly attached to the Exotic Garden. These greenhouses “contain the most important collections of cacti and succulents in the world,” states the Exotic Garden.
The Botanical Centre was initially located about thirty metres from the entrance of the Exotic Garden towards Cap d’Ail. In October 2017, it was relocated to a brand new premises facing the Garden, in a glass and iron structure designed by architects Fabrice Notari and Rudy Ricciotti.
A total of 10,500 plants were transferred to the three-story building, with 900 m² of greenhouses,1,000 m² of shelters, as well as 200 m² of staff space.
Inaugurated on October 31, 2017 by HSH Prince Albert II and Mayor Georges Marsan, the Botanical Centre relies on a team of seven specialized gardeners and meets two objectives: a reference collection of cacti and other succulents, ensuring the protection of these often rare and endangered plants, and the propagation of some of the plants intended for inclusion in the Garden or for display at flower shows. 85% of the plants preserved by the Botanical Centre are protected.
The Botanical Centre is open Tuesday to Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and admission is free.
