Category: Nature > Botanical Garden
District: Açores > Ponta Delgada > Ponta Delgada > São Sebastião
José do Canto, born in Ponta Delgada in 1820, was a notable Azorean landowner and intellectual.
He distinguished himself as a gardening enthusiast, an amateur botanist, and a collector of rare works, including those of Luís de Camões.
Born into an influential family in São Miguel, José do Canto received an exceptional education from an early age, with particular emphasis on his proficiency in Latin.
After studying in Paris and Coimbra, he married at the age of 22 and began managing his wife's vast properties.
With a progressive vision, he hired foreign experts and founded the Micaelense Agricultural Promotion Society, contributing to the introduction of crops such as pineapple and tea.
He played a key role in obtaining authorization for the construction of the Ponta Delgada dock.
In addition, he funded various charitable institutions, including an asylum in Ribeira Grande.
José do Canto conceived and built the José do Canto Garden, a 6-hectare botanical park with over 6,000 species of trees and shrubs.
The garden follows the English style of the Victorian era, offering exceptional landscape beauty and a wide botanical diversity.
Inside the garden, you will find the monument to José do Canto, an 18th-century manor house, an old greenhouse converted into a pavilion, and the 17th-century Santana Hermitage.
The complex, including the palace and the greenhouse, is classified as a Property of Public Interest and currently operates as a tourism accommodation unit.
He also built the Chapel of Nossa Senhora das Vitórias on the banks of Lagoa das Furnas, a beautiful neo-Gothic building classified as a Property of Public Interest.
Near the garden, he established another botanical park to acclimatize imported plants.
José do Canto was an enthusiastic bibliophile and his collection included approximately 18,000 titles, with editions dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries.
His Camonian collection is one of the best in the world, containing about 110 editions of "Os Lusíadas" in Portuguese and 105 editions in various foreign languages.
In addition, his library houses first editions of contemporary authors and works by renowned foreign writers.
José do Canto was a member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and several other cultural and scientific institutions.
His legacy remains alive in the José do Canto Garden, a place of unparalleled botanical and historical beauty, open for visitation.
Coordinates DD: 37.74699582319379, -25.669807213733616
Coordinates DMS: 37°44'49.2"N 25°40'11.3"W
Weather Ponta Delgada
On-duty Pharmacy Ponta Delgada
