The Afrikaanderwijk Botanic Garden existed since 1923 and was part of the then HBS Van Oldebarnevelt, which later became the Van Oldebarnevelt Scholengemeenschap. Today, the building serves as the Kocatepe Mosque. The Afrikaanderwijk Botanical Garden has been a national monument since 2000 (number 513876, complex number 513873).
The municipality of Rotterdam owns the garden. After a period of neglect in the 1980s, the City Management Department has restored the garden to its former glory. The garden consists of various plant families and has been supplemented over time with plants that were found in the harbor and surroundings. The garden now has over 800 plants and various trees. This makes the Botanical Garden a unique place in Rotterdam.
The Afrikaanderwijk Botanical Garden Foundation was established in June 2013 with the aim of maintaining the garden, allowing visitors to enjoy this beautiful place and to disseminate knowledge about the collection of plants and trees, herbs, plants and nature in general.
Every year, the children of the primary schools located around the Afrikaanderplein visit the garden for Nature and Environment lessons. Besides classes for children, activities, workshops and guided tours are regularly organized as well for everyone to participate.
The Botanic Garden Afrikaanderwijk is located in the Rotterdam Afrikaanderwijk. Originally, the Garden bordered directly on the Afrikaanderplein, which used to be bigger in size. In the eighties of the last century, however, a part of the garden was split off by the municipality of Rotterdam for the benefit of the bird sanctuary Vogelklas Karel Schot.
De garden belonged to the former Highschool Van Oldenbarnevelt. The garden was used for biology classes. However, due to lack of finances in the schooling system, this came to an end around 1975. After that, the garden fell into some disrepair. The garden was completely renovated in the mid-1980s and returned to its original design. The garden is now a national monument (no. 513876, complex no. 513873).
The garden (1925) and the school building were designed by the municipal architect Ad van der Steur. His most famous designs are the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen and the Rotterdam Eye Hospital. The school building forms the monumental end of the Afrikaanderplein. Today the Kocatepe mosque is located in the former school building. A gardener's house was also part of the complex. Today, the gardener's house is located on the grounds of the Vogelklas Karel Schot.
The Afrikaanderwijk Botanical Garden is divided into various plant families. In addition to about 850 different plant species, there are about 40 different trees in the garden, all from the temperate climate zone. The garden is maintained by the Foundation Botanic Garden Afrikaanderwijk (2013) with great contributions of volunteers.
The Afrikaanderwijk Botanical Garden Foundation was established on 20 June 2013 with the aim of preserving the garden.
The foundation tries to realize its goal, according to the deed of incorporation: by working together with the municipality of Rotterdam. By attracting volunteers who want to contribute to the maintenance of the Botanical Garden, but also to get support from the municipality of Rotterdam to attract visitors and to organize activities. The foundation does not aim to make a profit.
A foundation must be managed by a board consisting of at least two members. The board currently consists of three members:
Marit van der Riet, Chairman
Inke van der Meer, Secretary
Renata Rakolcai, Treasurer
Responsible for the daily coordination and supervision of the volunteers, lies with Astrid Priester and Tom Lorier. Melitta van Bracht supports and advises us on a voluntary basis about the collection of plants and much more. She can be heard monthly in the program Chris Naturally from Radio Rijnmond.
To achieve the objectives described above, the foundation has entered into a partnership with the municipality of Rotterdam by means of a so-called Right to Challenge.
The objective and policy of the Foundation is summarized in a Policy Plan. If you would like to receive a copy of the Policy Plan by email, please send a request to info@botanischetuinafrikaanderwijk.nl.
The rich assortment of specific types of plants, herbs, shrubs and trees that mainly belong to the temperate climate zone. Our collection will be the foundation hub of interaction and sharing knowledge with everyone.
The collection is largely made up of plant families, inherited from different species. In addition, to around 850 different types of plants and 40 different types of trees, we spontaneously collected non-native plants in and around Rotterdam. These are special for the region and, here at at BTA, we proudly call these plants the "Rotterdam plants". For the collection of these plants we are in contact with Bureau Stadsnatuur, Floron region Rotterdam and the Rotterdam Flora Werkgroep.
We also have a number of historical vegetable plants and other edible and utility plants.
More generally, we collect, cultivate, care for, register and document the special collection of plants for education, knowledge transfer, the protection of biodiversity and a sustainable society. We hereby observe the applicable agreements of the Dutch Botanical Gardens Association with regard to receiving, administering and issuing plant material.
