Saturday, April 28, 2012

The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken

The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken are a vast complex of eleven greenhouses, covering approximately 2.5 hectares (270,000 square feet) and located in Brussels. Commissioned by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1874 and completed in 1895 the greenhouses, designed by the ever-faithful-to-the-crown Alphonse Balat, are sublime. As they are only open to the public two weeks out of the year, being reserved for royal use (I'm not sure what they do with them) the remaining fifty, it is a rare opportunity to experience them in full, and for this one must feel a vague sense of hostility towards the Belgian Royal family, a generally unprecedented experience.









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