The initiative to establish a botanical garden at Istanbul University came from Ord. Prof. Dr. Alfred Heilbronn when he started lecturing in Istanbul. The construction of the garden was started in 1934 and it began operating in the spring of 1935 under the name of İ.Ü. Botanik Bahçesi (I.U.Botanical Garden – Hortus Botanicus Istanbulensis).

The Biology Institutions were founded on 3 March 1935 and opened on 4 June 1937. Following the first arrangements in 1934 the garden came into service in the spring of 1935 under the name of İ.Ü. Botanik Bahçesi (I.U.Botanical Garden – Hortus Botanicus Istanbulensis). Alfred Heilbronn ensured that the botanical garden would possess the appropriate conditions. He worked on the garden plan drawings, the greenhouse project, as well as the selection of heating and cooling systems. Today there were 23 pools in the garden of various sizes, 15 of them are in the greenhouses, 8 in a natural environment, and some of them are heated. There is also a rock garden of 430 m². AHBG trades seeds with approximately 400 foreign botanical gardens.

Every year the AHBG contributes to the education of more than 1000 undergraduate students of Biology in the garden and greenhouses, interesting samples from the world of plants are presented to primary and secondary education students and to people who live in Istanbul and surroundings and also to foreign guests.