Last year was another record year at the Botanic Gardens in the Flemish Brabant municipality of Meise. For the second consecutive year a record number of people visited the gardens that are situated just over 10 kilometres north of Brussels. In 2022 the Botanic Gardens in Meise celebrated the 225th anniversary of their opening in 1797. It was a double celebration with visitor numbers reaching a record-breaking 245,521.
Kanton Meise
2022 was a record year for visitor numbers at the Meise Botanic Gardens
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2022 was a festive year for the Botanic Garden of Meise. The Botanic Garden existed for 225 years and attracted a record number of visitors. Koen Es of the Meise Botanic Gardens told VRT News that"We received more than 240,000 visitors last year and we are very happy with that. This is a very good result. Over the past 10 years we have been able to double our number of visitors and of course we are very happy about that."
The numerous investments that have been made in the Botanic Garden in recent years offer one explanation for the increase in visitor numbers.
Mr Es told the VRT that "We have renovated a lot: various gardens, the visitors' reception area, the Plant Palace and the Wood Museum. And this is appreciated by the visitors, who are oming in ever greater numbers."
100 new plant species identified
Those that work at Botanic Garden had a busy year in 2022. "Our scientists identified 100 new plant species last year. That is slightly more than an average year. This shows the importance of studying biodiversity. Because there are still many plants and algae species on our planet that we are not yet familiar with and our scientists work on identifying them”, Ms Es said.