Most major cities boasting a university campus are usually blessed with a botanical garden - an offshoot
of the univesrity's botany research department. As with many things connected to the Hebrew University, in Jerusalem, here, there are two.

Planting of the garden on Mount Scopus began in 1931, according to a plan prepared by botany department head, Professor Alexander Eig, and it was to display Israeli and Lebanese flora. This is also where the Biblical Zoo was first opened. Today, it contains a large collection of uncultivated Israeli plants. The site is the location of a 2000-year old burial cave discovered in 1902, sporting the inscription: “bones of Nicanor of Alexandria who made the gate,” in reference to a wealthy Second Temple Jerusalemite who donated the bronze and copper gate to the Temple Courtyard. It also serves as the burial place of writer Yehuda Pinsker and Zionist activist Menachem Usishkin.

Following the War of Independence and upon the division of Jerusalem, a new garden was established in 1962, adjacent to the Givat Ram Campus, which had been dedicated eight years earlier. This landscaped garden was originally located near the National Library; but the limited size of the garden and the university's development needs soon required it be moved.

In 1985 - 13 years after the original plans were presented - the new garden was opened to the public, initially spread over 16,000 square meters bordering the south-eastern edge of the campus and adjacent to the “avenue of museums” that begins with the Israel Museum opposite the Knesset. Planned by renowned architect Shlomo Aharonson, it was a collaborative effort of the university, the Jerusalem Municipality, the JNF, the Jerusalem Foundation and the specially established Friends of the Botanical Gardens Society.

Today, the original North American conifers grove is surrounded by plants from Southwest and Central Asia, a Mediterranean section, a tropical greenhouse, a South African lot and a small lake. The latest addition is the Botanical Gardening Center nursery; and the visitor's center houses the administration of what is now an independent legal entity, and activities include tours, exhibitions and special activities.

A new exhibition, open from October 25th to November 1st, Flowers in the Palms of our Hands, presents photographs by residents of the Tal Institute for Technology.