The Lisbon Botanical Garden is a national monument spreading over 4 hectares, carpeted with flora species from all over the world. Cycads, palm trees, tropical fig trees, a herbarium with more than 220,000 leaves and a Butterfly Garden are only a few of its priceless natural treasures. These charming gardens are set in a peaceful and seductive verdant environment occupying the former grounds of a sixteenth-century estate, initially owned by a Portuguese nobleman and later home to a Jesuit college, the Polytechnic School of Lisbon and the School of Science. Today the former academic buildings house the National Museum of Natural History and Science and is dedicated to the promotion and study of zoology, anthropology, geology and botany.