On Thursday 1 December, the Hortus received the 200,000th visitor of the year 2022. Carlien Blok, director of the Hortus, is very happy after two heavy corona years.
Francesca Hugo, Art History student, received the bunch of flowers in honor of this moment. Francesca regularly visits the Hortus during her breaks with her Friends card. Coincidentally, she also brought a friend with her today.
“We can look back on a very good year,” said Carlien Blok. “And we seem to have forgotten, but in January the Hortus was still closed due to the lockdown. With these figures, we are now almost at the level of 2019. It is good to see that visitors know how to find us again and especially to see them enjoying the garden and collection.”
Looking to the future
The Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world. The organization is managed by an independent foundation that, in addition to an annual contribution from the municipality of Amsterdam, provides its own income through ticket sales, catering, shop and room rental. Visitors are therefore vital to the garden. The Hortus finished this high for the last time in 2019 with 244,863 visitors. This year’s total will increase in December, and so far there have also been 13,500 visitors through private events and Museum Night.
“These numbers are good for us in several respects,” says Blok. “We still have a major task ahead of us with the sustainable renovation of the Three-climate Greenhouse. This way we can also show more people the beauty of plants in the future and teach them about the importance of plants for life on earth.”
Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, Plantage Middenlaan 2A