copenhagen’s botanical garden
As promised, this is a deeper dive into our experience at the Copenhagen Botanical Gardens. This was our favourite activity that we did in Copenhagen. Admission is DKK 60 per adult, which is about $11.60 CAD.
The gardens comprise most of the grounds surrounding the Natural History Museum of Denmark, with the more tropical plants housed in many greenhouses surrounding the ultimate plant haven, the Palm House. A beautiful glass structure that commands your attention as soon as you enter the grounds.
When I saw the Palm House, I told Chris that it reminded me of the famous Crystal Palace from the 1852 World Exhibition in London, which we studied in my History of Interiors & Furniture course. When sitting down to write this I did a quick Google of the Palm House to verify my facts and realized it was indeed inspired by the Crystal Palace.
The architect of the Palm House was Danish architect Peter Christian Bønecke. It was constructed between 1872-74. One of the pleasures for Chris and I, having not researched too much into each activity we were interested in, was finding two spiral staircases in centre of the Palm House. These staircases led to a circular walkway above the room so that you could view the beautiful, rainforest-like setting from above.
Between the unique and beautiful plants, many of which Chris and I had never seen before, and the incredible building, we couldn’t stop smiling and commenting about how much we were enjoying the experience.
As much as we enjoyed walking through the Palm House, the best was yet to come!
Once you finished touring the Palm House you were directed outside towards the lower greenhouse, notably the cactus greenhouse. Chris has a unique love for cacti, enjoying plants that are so resilient and can grow taller than he is!
My favourite part came at the end of the cactus greenhouse when we entered the Butterfly House. Two sizable rooms filled with plants, small frogs, and oh so many butterflies.
If you know me you’ll know that I am OBSESSED with butterflies. I quite literally have one tattooed on my body. This was heaven for me! And no matter how many butterfly houses or habitats I visit, I am always in my glee.
At the entrance, there was a list of the species of butterflies we could find inside. Chris was particularly interested in one called the Greta Oto aka the Glasswing Butterfly. We saw so many of them when we got inside and I was snap-happy, taking as many photos as I could, finding the glasswing butterfly the hardest to capture because my camera lens didn’t know what to focus on.
Below are some of my favourite shots from our time inside. I was very pleased with the variety of butterflies I managed to capture. If you click to expand any of the photos below, I have listed the species of each butterfly for anyone curious.
We’d highly recommend the Botanical Gardens to everyone. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading a bit more about our experience and that it inspires you to visit on your own trip to Copenhagen!
