On the foundation date of the Botanical Garden of the Imperial University of Tomsk

On the basis of archival documents stored in the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan in V.M. Florinsky Fund, as well as in the Department of Manuscripts and Book Monuments of the TSU Research Library, the first attempt to establish the Botanical Garden at the University of Tomsk in 1880-1881 is reconstructed. It is noted that this educational and subsidiary part of the Imperial Tomsk University, which had appeared before classes at the university began, later played an important role not only in training but also in the scientific study and development of the Siberian region. The ideologist of the organization of the Botanical Garden was a member of the Construction Committee of the Ministry of Education, later a trustee of the West Siberian Educational District V.M. Florinsky. In 1875, three years before the establishment of the Siberian Tomsk University, V.M. Florinsky planned the construction of the Botanical Garden. Originally, he planned to place it behind the main building of the university, between its two wings. However, at the beginning of the works by the Construction Committee it became clear that the land for the construction of the Botanical Garden of the University was not enough. At the initiative of V.M. Florinsky Tomsk city government donated an additional area of 16 hectares to accommodate the Botanical Garden with greenhouses and an observatory. This allowed beginning works on the territory allocated for the Botanical Garden already in the fall of 1880. Since January 1881, the Construction Committee began the process of finding contractors for the erection of wooden buildings for an astronomical observatory and a botanical garden with greenhouses and hothouses, as well as for cleaning the territory allotted for the Botanical Section. At the same, in the summer of 1880, V.M. Florinsky thought about the layout of the Botanical Garden. In order to implement it, V.M. Florinsky accepted an offer to make a free-of-charge "arrangement of nurseries and schools for plants" from M.A. Shestakov who hoped to become a gardener after the opening of the Botanical Garden. In August 18, 1880, M.A. Shestakov was appointed superintendent of building materials. By the end of autumn 1880, M.A. Shestakov built a "fence with three gates" whose length was 345 linear fathoms. About three acres of land needed for planting and transplanting plants were cultivated. 135 varieties of trees and artisanal plants were planted that could survive the climate of Tomsk. However, in the process of works a conflict aroused between M.A. Shestakov and Chairman of the Building Committee V.I. Mertsalov that led to the dismissal of M.A. Shestakov. Thus, in July 1885, when P.N. Krylov came to Tomsk, the seeds and some constructions of greenhouses were already there.

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