The Jardín Botánico José Celestino Mutis was established in 1955 on 19 hectares in the Chapinero Norte area and contains over 4,500 species of Colombian flora organised by biome — páramo, subpáramo, Andean forest, dry forest, wetlands — mapping the vertical ecology of Colombian geography onto a horizontal garden. The glass greenhouse — an iron-and-concrete dome housing the lowland tropical collection — is the most architecturally striking space: a working scientific structure that produces the same quality of light and botanical density as the great European palm houses. Entry is modest and the crowds are never significant. The garden operates at the pace of science rather than tourism.
Chapinero Norte, Bogotá, Colombia