World's largest Victorian glasshouse re-opens at Kew Gardens
Completion of a five-year restoration project, costing £41million, heralded the re-opening of the Temperate House at Kew Gardens at the beginning of May. Sir David Attenborough described it as a "breathtakingly beautiful space" and others have likened it to a 'botanical' cathedral in terms of its grandeur. But it's also an architectural masterpiece; an extraordinary engineering feat; a sight that shouldn't be missed; and an inspiring day-out. The magnitude of the project is brought alive through the statistics published by Kew - 10,000 plants uprooted and replanted; enough scaffolding to stretch the full length of the M25; awesome quantities of paint; 15,000 glass panes replaced; 69,000 sections of components repaired or replaced; and five-years of work. The Temperate House first opened in 1863, causing visitors to stare in amazement then, and was closed 150 years later for refurbishment. Onlookers are once again gazing in awe! It is both the light and spacio…
Amazing!
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