The city’s botanical gardens invite the public to explore their 28-hectare expanse, free of charge, all year long. Visitors can partake in informative guided tours to deepen their understanding of the botanical world, or engage in workshops and activities thoughtfully designed for children.
This workshop explores the traditional process of assembling a herbarium specimen, inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s collections. Participants learn scientific techniques for pressing and mounting dried plants on old paper, practice botanical labelling and nomenclature, and select specimens to create a personal herbarium sheet. The session examines preservation methods, identification principles and the historical context of Rousseau’s approach, combining practical skills with scientific insight to produce a lasting botanical object.
In French.
This interactive memory challenge invites participants to test their memory while exploring practical ways to preserve biodiversity based on Geneva’s municipal strategy. Players match “before-and-after” images that illustrate individual and institutional actions, and each correct pair reveals concise information explaining the measure. The activity examines themes such as habitat restoration, species-friendly practices, urban greening and policy responses, helping participants understand the impact and rationale behind everyday and organisational conservation choices.
Discover the remarkable journey of a palm tree, from a seed harvested in Ghana to its careful cultivation in Pregny’s greenhouses. This guided tour offers an immersive, multidisciplinary exploration of palm trees, combining science, field research, and horticultural expertise through the story of the Multipalms project.
In French.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s herbarium, compiled in the 1770s for the printer-bookseller Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, is presented through preserved pressed specimens, its original catalogue and related botanical publications. The historical collection combines scientific observation and aesthetic arrangement, revealing Enlightenment approaches to collecting, classification and the popularisation of plant study. Detailed notes and annotations illuminate Rousseau’s techniques and the materiality of specimens, inviting reflection on how personal curiosity and scholarly networks shaped early modern natural history.
This session explores the diversity and conservation of aromatic and medicinal plants conserved in the Geneva Botanic Garden’s living collections and herbarium. It examines rare species listed under CITES and the threats they face, and presents field projects led by Brazilian, Malagasy and South African partners to protect habitats and sustain local livelihoods. Participants learn how botanical collections inform conservation action, research priorities and policy responses for preserving health, heritage and biodiversity.
In French.
Yves Lottaz, aromatologist, and the mediation team bring practical expertise in scent analysis and plant extracts based on scientific research and collection work.
The workshop challenges participants to identify seven natural extracts — barks, spices and seeds — and to recognise the molecules that define each plant. Combining herbarium specimens, chemistry and perfumery, the session examines how these species contribute to health, heritage and daily aromas.
In French.
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