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The Botanical Garden of the Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB) is situated amidst the Kalwe, a densely wooded area in the district Bochum-Querenburg. It borders in the north directly onto the Ruhr-University Bochum. South of the soft rolling garden area are the Lotte valley and Lake Kemnade situated.

The garden outdoor area and the Chinese Garden are open in the summer months (summer time) from 9am to 6pm and in the winter months (winter time) from 9am to 4pm. The greenhouses will close earlier. Admission is free. Director of the Botanical Garden is Prof. Dr. Thomas Stützel.

History:
The Botanical Garden served the biological faculty of the Ruhr University for studies and research purposes. the university was founded in 1962. After preliminary work from 1966 onwards, the garden was founded after employing the first gardener in 1968. Since then it has been constantly developed and extended. It was opened to the public in 1971. In 1976, the tropical house was finished. The 20-year anniversary was celebrated with a desert house in 1988 and in 1990, the Chinese garden was completed and the Savanna house in 2000. In the autumn of 2001, followed the reopening of the Chinese Garden with a restaurant. In December, the tropical house was reopened after 18 months of restoration.

Data:
The fenced-in part of the botanical garden has a size of 130.000 m². The greenhouse area is around 3.500 m². One of the special features is the Chinese Garden, unique in Germany as it was constructed by Chinese professionals in the southern Chinese style. Other special features are the areas for geobotany (Europe, Asia, North America) and vegetation history (glacial, post-glacial, tertiary vegetation), the course of the stream, decorative plantings and the greenhouses (tropical-, Savanne, desert house), which are all connected by a central entrance hall.

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Chinese Garden:
Bochum's Chinese Garden, with the name Qian Yuan ('Qian's Garden') has been designed as a 'Garden is a Garden' at the bottom of the Botanical Garden's slope range and is completely surrounded by a wall. The access is via step plates in an entrance pond; the facility itself encompasses 1000 m², whereby the pond occupies half of this area. This example of Chinese garden architecture was donated by the Tongji-University Shanghai to the Ruhr-University as a sign of the friendship. In 1986, Chinese architects and craftsmen have been designing the garden with original building parts, which were transported via the sea route. 600 tons of stones were piled up to a rock formation and furnished with wall openings, terraces and pavilions under the guidances of Chinese specialists.

The original text is based on the Free Encyclopaedia Wikipedia http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanischer_Garten_der_Ruhr-Universit%C3%A4t_Bochum