Botanical Centre Greenhouses, Exotic Garden of Monaco

The Botanical Centre belongs to Monaco's Exotic Garden. According to the garden's official website, the greenhouses were created in the 1960s, outside the garden's walls, first a few tens of metres from the entrance on the Cap-d'Ail side.

The rebuilding dates from 2016-2017. Monaco Life reports that restructuring began in November 2016 under Jean-Marie Solichon, then the garden's director, and was completed in the summer of 2017. The present building, designed by Fabrice Notari and Rudy Ricciotti, was inaugurated on 31 October 2017 by Prince Albert II and Mayor Georges Marsan. About 10,500 plants were moved into it, 500 in tubs and 10,000 in pots. Public access was announced in stages: a pedestrian area along the greenhouses from spring 2018, followed by guided visits from September 2018.

A June 2019 article nonetheless describes the greenhouses as normally closed to the public, opened for a festival weekend. The closure of the Exotic Garden in 2020 changed how the site was used: a July 2021 article announced free admission from 1 July, while the garden itself stayed shut for works. The garden reopened on 30 March 2026 after six years; Monte-Carlo SBM presents the centre as open to visitors again from 31 March 2026.

The building is the work of Fabrice Notari and Rudy Ricciotti; the garden's official website describes it as a glass-and-iron structure. It rises over three levels and combines 900 m² of greenhouses, 1,000 m² of shelters and 200 m² of staff premises. The announcement of the inauguration states that the full redesign took two years.

A 2021 HelloMonaco article sees three spiky lines that integrate monumental greenhouses and shelters under a glass roof admitting southern light, an open-air architecture facing the Principality; a 2024 article singles out the view of the Rock. Spaces are divided by the origin of the plants: a Mexican greenhouse for the impressive cacti, an American shelter, and an African and Madagascan greenhouse for the tree-like aloes.

The complex stands above the Boulevard du Jardin Exotique, opposite the garden, at the upper western entrance to the Principality, in a district then described as changing fast.

The centre keeps about 10,500 plants, mostly cacti and other succulents. A 2021 article counts about 3,000 species, a March 2024 Monaco Life article more than 10,000, a figure that appears to confuse plants with species. The official website states that 85% of the plants are protected and that the greenhouses hold, in its words, the world's most important collections of cacti and succulents. The plants are grouped by origin: Mexico, other parts of the Americas, Africa and Madagascar.

Specimens singled out include an Aloe pillansii dating from 1972, the only one in the collection, with a trunk several metres tall, and Mammillaria carmenae, a small spherical cactus listed as critically endangered. A 2019 article also mentions a Neoraimondia herzogiana weighing about two tonnes.

Seven specialist gardeners carry out the ex situ conservation. They propagate plants destined for the Exotic Garden or for flower shows, exchange seeds and cuttings with other gardens, use controlled pollination, and sell none of the plants.

The centre stands opposite the Exotic Garden, above the boulevard; the official website places the Parking des Salins opposite the garden. Combined tickets pair the garden with the Observatory Cave or with the centre, and the cave is visited with a guide for roughly 40 to 45 minutes.

Access arrangements have changed: a 2021 article describes free entry on opening days, whereas the official website in 2026 offers a Botanical Centre visit led by a specialist, on set weekly slots. The same 2021 article notes that no guided tours ran in July, August and September because of the heat, a detail to check for the season. From the greenhouses the view opens over the Principality and the Rock, a natural complement to a visit to the garden.