The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was founded in 1759, and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Alongside Kew Gardens in London, Kew has a second country garden based at Wakehurst which is the home of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank. As well as being one of London’s top visitor attractions, Kew is also a world leader in plant science and conservation.
Our work helps to discover and describe the world’s plant and fungal diversity, safeguard the world's plant life for our future, promote the sustainable use of plants and inspire an appreciation of plants and the environment. Find out more about our Breathing Planet programme.
Throughout its history, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has made important contributions to increasing the understanding of the plant kingdom with many benefits for mankind. Today it is still first and foremost a scientific institution. With its collections of living and preserved plants, of plant products and botanical information, it forms an encyclopaedia of knowledge about the plant kingdom.