Show Glasshouses of the Freiburg Botanical Garden (Schaugewächshäuser, Botanischer Garten Freiburg)

Founded in 1620, Freiburg's botanical garden is among the oldest in Germany, and it moved several times before reaching its present site. The second garden, south of the Dreisam, received its first glasshouses in 1827–1828, and the third, in Neuburg, was given glasshouses described as modern in 1880–1882.

After a new institute was built under Friedrich Oltmanns, the garden moved to the Schänzlestraße in the Herdern district: its glasshouse complex was completed in 1915 and the outdoor beds in 1920. Air raids in 1944 destroyed much of the garden, and the glasshouses and grounds were rebuilt between 1946 and 1955.

New glasshouses and a service building were constructed in 1970–1972. New propagation houses and an entrance followed in 2004–2005, and the show-house complex was renovated in 2010–2011 and again in 2016. From 2018 the former subtropical house was turned into a French Guiana house, whose official opening was planned for June 2020 to mark the garden's 400th anniversary.

The garden has four themed show glasshouses with a combined area of 910 m², plus a cool house (Kalthaus); Wikipedia gives about 900 m². According to the garden's former glasshouse page, the fern house covers 265 m², the tropical house 375 m² with a height of 16 m, the French Guiana house 170 m² with a height of 14 m, and the succulent house 100 m².

OpenStreetMap records an energy-efficiency renovation in 2010 by the Freiburg practice Eisenberg-Rummel; the garden itself dates this campaign to 2010–2011, followed by a further one in 2016.

Converting the former subtropical house into the French Guiana house brought in modern equipment: concealed water tanks, new glazing and ventilation by fans and misting nozzles. The house is kept at about 26 °C with humidity of around 70 percent. It contains a mangrove basin with a tidal system, two swamp pools, a forest zone, a clearing, a savanna and coastal area, and a section devoted to slash-and-burn crops.

The garden grows some 6,000 plant species from around the world; under glass they are divided between the tropics, ferns and succulents, along with an area for orchids and bromeliads.

The French Guiana house stands out for its geographical approach: rather than a tropical medley, it presents the flora of a limited area of French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana, using plants mostly collected in the wild in that region and supplemented by a few from other botanical gardens. Planted from spring 2018, it had become a dense jungle a year and a half later. Its plants include heliconias, ant trees, fan palms, mimosa and mangrove species. Animals live there too: poison dart frogs, described as harmless in this setting, and mudskippers, amphibious fish that can be watched in the mangrove basin.

The garden lies in the Herdern district north of the city centre, between the Hauptstraße and Okenstraße stops on tram line 3. The glasshouses open only for part of the day and not every day, so it is worth checking before a visit. Visits are self-guided, with information panels and educational trails; an hour is enough for the four houses. Bags and backpacks are not allowed in the French Guiana house, to prevent animals from being carried out. Outdoors, the garden recreates alpine habitats, dunes, heathland, marshes and bogs.