jardim botânico is considered one of the ten most important botanical gardens in the world,  it contains over 8000 types of plants - thousands of orchids belonging to hundreds of exotic species are on display in its orchidarium.

the tradition of building botanical gardens has a long history in portugal, as such, the portuguese town of coimbra, opened the first space of this type to the public in 1772.

when theportuguese court relocated to rio de janeiro at the end of the eighteenth century, the possibility of creating a similar  sanctuary here was quickly explored.