Botanical garden: Lord Mayor convinced of its importance

Together with Claudia Balling, Head of the Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, and Luisa Till from the Climate and Sustainability Unit, Würzburg's Lord Mayor Martin Heilig visited the University of Würzburg's Botanical Garden on Monday, 27 April 2026. The aim was to provide information about the importance of the garden for Würzburg and Lower Franconia and its role as a link between the university and society.

LehrLernGarten and a wide range of other offers

The delegation led by Martin Heilig had the opportunity to find out first-hand about the tasks in research, teaching, public education, as a training centre and about species conservation projects.

The Lord Mayor was particularly interested in the educational work carried out by the LehrLernGarten project: students, especially those studying to become teachers, gain practical experience in courses by carrying out teaching units with school classes from the city and the region at the extracurricular learning centre under supervision. The topics are very diverse and range from botany and interdisciplinary ecology to interdisciplinary education for sustainable development (ESD). A win-win situation for the students and for the schools. This cooperation between the University and the City of Würzburg should therefore be further intensified.

Bridge between university and society

Through its public events programme, the Botanic Garden also forms a bridge between science at the university and society. This transfer also met with great interest from visitors.

Finally, projects were presented in which the Botanic Garden, in co-operation with the nature conservation authorities, is working to preserve rare and endangered plant species. These species are propagated in the garden and then returned to their natural habitat. This species protection with conservation cultures has already been successfully carried out several times in Lower Franconia.

Construction work in the botanical garden

The Lord Mayor was also able to gain an impression of the major construction work currently underway in the Botanic Garden. The renovation of all water and wastewater channels is primarily aimed at protecting drinking water.

The construction of two new rainwater cisterns is also intended to make the Botanic Garden independent of city water in dry years. The garden is currently closed to the public for safety reasons due to the construction work, which is mainly taking place in the area of the paths. The construction work is urgently needed as the infrastructure of the garden and the Botanical Institute has been in place since 1960.

The location on the Dallenberg with its diverse terrain structure is ideal for a botanical garden with different habitats and the huge variety of plant species worldwide. The fact that Würzburg has had a botanical garden since 1696 and that it is closely rooted in the city was also discussed during the tour.