Botanik Sera, greenhouse of Ankara's Botanical Park

Ankara's Botanical Park (Botanik Parkı) was laid out in 1970 in a valley of the Çankaya district, between Cinnah and Çankaya avenues, next to the site of the Atakule tower. Its designer, the landscape architect Yüksel Öztan, chose the spot for its microclimate, its central position and its links with the surrounding neighbourhoods. Gaia magazine describes it as Turkey's second botanical park, after Istanbul University's garden opened in 1935. The flower greenhouse, built the same year, stands at its centre.

Closed to the public in 1995, the greenhouse deteriorated for years. In October 2017 Hürriyet reported broken panes, a rusted frame and a sign forbidding entry for safety reasons; local residents were then calling either for its repair or for its demolition. At that time the building belonged to the metropolitan municipality's environmental protection and control department.

In September 2022 the greenhouse was leased to the Turkish Biologists Association (Türkiye Biyologlar Derneği), which carried out the restoration with KUDEM, the municipal department for the implementation and inspection of protection measures. A reopening announced for late summer 2023 slipped: the greenhouse finally reopened on 8 March 2025, International Women's Day. The length of the works differs between sources, two years according to officials quoted in June 2025, three years according to Karar and Yeni Ankara.

The greenhouse is a modest building of glass panels set on a metal frame. It stands at the heart of the park, in the area that groups the large pool, the playground and the open-air amphitheatre (Botanik Amfi), a short way north of the Atakule tower. No source gives its dimensions or the name of its designer.

The surrounding park covers about 65,000 m², including some 29,500 m² of lawns and planting, 16,700 m² of woodland, 15,500 m² of paved areas and a 1,330 m² pool; it is protected as a third-degree natural site.

Articles published after the reopening do not describe the works in detail, but mention an interior with electronically controlled humidity, which is also used to nurse sick plants. The glazed space has been fitted out as a multi-purpose venue: growing and treatment areas, a plant sales corner, a café called Lithops and a piano available to musicians.

The dailies Karar and Yeni Ankara count 70 to 80 species, from the Netherlands, the Mediterranean basin and other parts of the world; the collection includes a plant about 65 years old. Succulents play a large part: women from the Ege production cooperative in Muğla, a partner of the project, grow them, and the greenhouse sells them with advice on their care.

The greenhouse also works as a “plant hospital”: residents bring in their ailing plants free of charge, and specialists examine and treat them before explaining to the owners how to look after them. The Biologists Association runs courses and workshops for children and young people there, as well as sessions with landscape architects, agricultural engineers and academics. Its programme for the park also announced soil and insect schools, birdwatching, identification of trees and wild plants, and workshops on organic vegetable and medicinal-plant growing.

The greenhouse stands in the middle of the Botanical Park, in central Çankaya, a few minutes' walk from the Atakule tower. The park, a public garden open throughout the day, suits an hour's stroll around the pool and up the wooded slopes of the valley, with the greenhouse as a stop along the way. The local press recommends spring, for the flowers, and autumn, for the colours of the foliage. Workshops and “plant hospital” consultations set the rhythm of the place, and a visit can be extended to the neighbouring Atakule tower and its viewing platform.