Portál Pražana
Explore Prague Botanical Garden with all your senses!
For twenty-two years, Prague Botanical Garden held an exhibition that visitors could enjoy with all their senses in its exhibition hall. This year, however, is different. A project that enables the appreciation of various aspects of nature for visitors with special needs is spread throughout the whole area of outdoor expositions. We visited these fourteen stops, where you can explore nature not only by sight, but also by smell, touch and hearing.
The project, called ‘Garden of All Senses’ makes your visit to the Botanical Garden in Troja even more diverse. You can just collect the map with the stops at the box office (or download it on the website) and go.
All fourteen stops will guide you through the entire garden. And it doesn't matter where you decide to start. However, we recommend starting from the north entrance, which would leave the sense of taste until the very end. In St. Claire’s Vineyard, you can taste a total of twelve types of local wine this year, including sparkling and straw wines. If you start from the north entrance, the wine cellar will be the last stop. And we believe that it is better to end with a glass of such goodness, not to start with it.
Midsummer herbs
A trail of all the senses will also take you to a bed of Midsummer herbs, where you can feel a special, slightly mysterious atmosphere. You will read that our ancestors believed in the magical power of herbs collected during the summer solstice. They used to collect them at a specific time on the eve of St.John the Baptist, adhering to strict procedures. It was essential to achieve the magic number 9 –either they had to choose nine plant species or to collect herbs at nine different locations. These herbs then served primarily to protect against evil forces, to ensure health and well-being, and to love witchcraft.
The Midsummer Exposition at Troja Botanical Garden will offer you the smells of St. John's wort, yarrows, poppies, white daisies, male ferns and dog rose. Nine herbaceous herbs are then supplemented by camomile, wormwood and broad-leaved thyme.
Close to the midsummer herb bed, you will also discover a sculpture symbolising the sun disk. It comes to life by fire on the summer solstice.
The Trail ‘Zahrada všemi smysly’ (Garden of all senses) is open until 31/08/2019, from 9pm to 7am.
Please be gentle with the exhibits when walking through the garden. Do not destroy them and the experience for the visitors coming after you.
For further information, please visit: https://www.botanicka.cz/hlavni-stranka/general-information-english.html?page_id=1186