Edouard Pagant

The development of greenhouses and orangeries in Europe is closely linked to colonisation and the great expeditions of the 18th century, during which exotic specimens were brought back to enrich the collections of botanical gardens. The botanical greenhouse, like the museum, is a place where "objects" from outside are kept and classified. However, unlike museums, greenhouses contain "living objects", inside plants must grow and so the break with the outside world is a partial break. The glass architecture separates from the climate but allows the sun's rays to pass through, the greenhouse tends to create an outside within the inside, an illusion of nature in a cultural place.

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The greenhouses of the botanical garden in Meise are the largest in Belgium and contain almost 10,000 species of plants. The park's website states that visitors can discover « the tropical forest, the savannah and the desert ». If botanical greenhouses are a kind of museum of exotic plants, here certain scenographic choices should be noted: the use of loudspeakers broadcasting animal noises, fake rocks, fake baobab trunks and fake huts decorate the path, artificial waterways that the visitor crosses on wooden logs, or the excessive diffusion of water vapour creating real atmospheric fog. More than a simple visit, it is a real adventure for the visitor, an expedition into an artificial world, a cleverly orchestrated illusion on a semblance of nature.