Lalbagh Botanical Garden historical timeline

Lalbagh began as a royal garden and became a public botanical institution through repeated enlargement, plant exchange and new structures. The present site preserves eighteenth-century origins beside nineteenth- and twentieth-century scientific horticulture.

Chronology

1. 1760 Hyder Ali commissions a garden south of Bengaluru, drawing on established garden traditions in the Mysore region. The site’s earliest planned layer survives through its continued identity as a cultivated landscape.
2. Late 18th century Tipu Sultan expands the garden and introduces plants through wider trading and diplomatic connections. The global scope of the collection begins before formal British botanical management.
3. 1858 William New arrives to supervise the garden. Scientific cataloguing, propagation and exchange become more systematic under successive superintendents.
4. 1874 The recorded garden covers about 45 acres. Later acquisitions extend it eastward and around the rocky rise, creating much of the larger footprint walked today.
5. 30 November 1889 Prince Albert Victor lays the foundation stone for the Glass House. Its iron framework gives the garden a permanent exhibition hall.
6. 1890–1891 The Glass House and a central bandstand are completed during John Cameron’s superintendency. Flower display becomes linked to a purpose-built architectural focus.
7. 1893 A dovecote is built south of the Glass House. It remains one of several small structures documenting the garden’s former animal and ornamental facilities.
8. 1894 Further land additions bring the garden to roughly 188 acres. The expanded site incorporates the rock and Kempegowda watchtower into the botanical circuit.
9. 1935 The Glass House is extended using steel from the Mysore Iron and Steel Company. The pavilion visible today therefore contains more than one construction phase.
10. Present day The Department of Horticulture manages a 240-acre garden, research and propagation functions, and two major annual flower-show periods. Everyday walking and institutional horticulture continue beside mass public events.

Survival and management

A botanical garden is never a fixed collection. Trees age, labels and beds change, new plants arrive, and disease or storms require removals. Lalbagh’s historical value lies partly in that continuity of care rather than in preserving one eighteenth-century layout unchanged.

The Glass House, lake, watchtower and older specimens provide stable landmarks. Nurseries, seasonal beds and event installations are more fluid. Visitors should distinguish permanent collection work from the temporary floral displays that dominate photographs during show weeks.

• Official website
• Wikipedia