The Botanical Garden is part of Ciudad Universitaria and is a «green oasis» in the valley of Caracas. With 68 hectares and two ponds at each end, this plant museum and research field is a showcase of live plants, with over 2500 botanical species. The area is inhabited by over two thousand species of birds and insects. Its gardens are the work of Tobias Lasser (1911-2006) who, with the help of a German gardener managed to crystallize this plant museum. It has a flat area and a mountain area. The gardens are in the flat area, among which are: the arboretum, the palmetum (which has the largest number of varieties in Latin America), the xerophilous garden, a bromeliarium, a tropical rainforest area, an araceae and zingiberaceae area and a medicinal garden. Integrated into the area’s topography, the Botanical Institute building, designed by Villanueva, is composed of three perpendicular parallelepipeds connected by courtyards, ramps and corridors, and the body of the trapezoidal auditorium. The complex reveals the experimentation with light and shadow contrast, with the presence of courtyards, latticework, brise-soleils and pergolas. Inside is a herbarium, arranged around a courtyard pergola with a reflecting pool. A mural by Wilfredo Lam (1902-1982) near the auditorium entrance and a wood mural by Francisco Narváez (1905-1982) embellish the beautiful buildings. The Botanical Garden is currently part of the campus.