Olympic Botanical Garden

In December 2011, almost four years after the devastating fires that struck Ancient Olympia (August 2007), thanks to the love and care of experts and ordinary people, the operation of the Olympic Botanical Garden (OBK) begins in an area of ​​nine acres in the northern foothills of Kronio hill and in the immediate vicinity of the Grove of the Olympic Truce and the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.

The Olympic Botanical Garden at the archeological site of Olympia was an action among other medium-term interventions, which were foreseen by the special technical study of the Technical Advisor of the Ministry of Culture for the restoration of the tested Olympic Landscape, ie the Institute of Mediterranean and Mediterranean Products. IMDO and TSI), after the catastrophic fire of 2007.

Immediately after the fires, there was an urgent execution of the soil protection project (anti-corrosion - flood works) and the restoration of vegetation (horticultural projects) with the appropriate selection of plant species, which took place in time, before the Olympic Flame Touch ceremony on March 24, 2008, when the time came for the creation of OBK.

The study for the creation of the Olympic Botanical Garden was commissioned by a designer and after a proposal was approved unanimously by the Central Archaeological Council in January 2011.

According to the study, the plants were grouped into sections with criteria such as the height of the plant species (trees, shrubs, grasses), their evergreen or not, their color change, their requirements for light and shade, water needs, the available space and the facility in terms of viewing and observation of plant species by visitors.

A total of 56 plant species, representing the flora of Olympia and the wider region, were planted in units in approximately 9000 pits. Many of these species were used in the horticultural restoration work of the Olympic landscape after the fires of 2007. Thus the visitor can get acquainted with 20 species of trees, 20 species of shrubs and 16 species of aromatic-medicinal drinks.

Each plant unit is marked with information signs. They inform the visitor about the scientific name of each species (Latin language) and about the common name in four languages ​​(Greek, English, French, German). In addition, a concise bilingual text (Greek and English) accompanies the image of any kind, flowery or fruitful.

At the entrance of the Garden, the central wooden sign with the emblem of OBK, the floor plan and a memorandum for the species of plants, orients the visitor, who also has the opportunity to climb the Cronus Hill, but also to see the place where the Ephorate Antiquities of Olympia excavates a building of at least two chronological phases (Roman and Classical period), probably a sanctuary, a deity unknown at the moment, in the immediate vicinity of Altea, with a variety of finds of all kinds and materials, which are preserved in its laboratories.

The Olympic Botanical Garden is an open-air museum of natural history near the Archaeological Museum of Olympia and the monuments of Althea, for the plant species used in the restoration of the Olympic Landscape, based on the descriptions of authors of the ancient Greek literature (Aristotelis, Sophorastos, Theofrastos , Athenian) but also based on recent testimonies, so it is inextricably linked to the history and archaeological significance of Olympia.

The creation of OBK in an area that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site serves the following purposes:

a) Informs the numerous visitors as an open-air Museum of Natural History near the Archaeological Museum of Olympia and the monuments of Althea, about the plant species used in the restoration of the Olympic Landscape, based on the descriptions of authors of the ancient Greek literature Pausanias, Athenian) but also based on recent testimonies, so it is inextricably linked to the history and archaeological significance of Olympia.

b) Covers the environmental education needs of the inhabitants of the wider area.

c) Informs about the tree, shrub and herbaceous species of the Mediterranean Flora.

The visitors of OBK will return from Olympia with multiple knowledge, archeological and historical from the Museums and the Archaeological Site, but also phytological, after they will have been taught and enjoyed the fragrance and the multicolor of the plants, and the tweet of the winged fauna ( spinos, mavrotsirovakos, karvouniaris,dendrofylloscopos,mavroskoufis, gum, etc.) which finds a variety of food in this area as well as the smells and aromas of different plant species (laurel, cypress, linden, rosemary, wicker, myrrh thyme, wormwood, mint, lavender, marjoram, mint, etc.)

Contact:

☎  2624 022529