Palm House

The Palmenhaus in the Schoenbrunn palace park opened in 1882 as a gift from Emperor Franz Joseph to the people of Vienna and ranks, with the glasshouses of Kew Gardens and the Palmengarten in Frankfurt, among the three largest plant houses in the world. Architect Franz Xaver Segenschmid combined 113 metres of wrought iron with 45,000 panes of glass in three climatically separate pavilions: cool, temperate and tropical. About 4,500 plant species live under the roof today, including a 350-year-old olive tree from the Vatican and exotic stock from subantarctic regions. The Austrian Federal Gardens have managed it since 1918. The visit pairs well with the adjacent desert house and a longer walk through the park, and the warm humid air is especially welcome on a cold day.