The biodiversity and the unique climate of small Lokrum were first noticed in ancient times, but the idea to establish a special acclimatization institute which would study the adaptation of foreign plants came into being only at the beginning of the 20th century.The plan began to be implemented in 1959 when on a surface area of about 2 hectares – what used to be an abandoned monastery estate with a vegetable garden – the BOTANICAL GARDEN was established and first exotic species were planted.Today, about eight hundred species from Australia, South America, Africa and other parts of the world as well as the protected and endangered species of the wider Dubrovnik region flourish here.