Schönbrunn, laid out by Dutch gardeners for the Hapsburgs in the early 18th century, was later seen as a botanical garden in the style of those in Leiden and Amsterdam. The national botanical garden of Austria developed out of the Hapsburg park of Schönbrunn.

After his botanizing expedition to the West Indies at the request of the emperor, Jacquin served as professor of botany and director of the botanical garden of the University of Vienna from 1768 to 1796. The Department of Special Collections also contains Jacquin's large 4-volume work, Plantarum rariorum horti caesarei schoenbrunnensis (1797).