Glass House, Lalbagh Botanical Garden

Day: Monday To Sunday
Time: 06:00AM To 7:00PM
About

Glass House At the centre of every flower show at Lalbagh and the present one is the 204th is the palatial Glass House, which is the garden’s biggest attraction. It was built in 1889 to commemorate the visit of Albert Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria and former Prince of Wales. The Glass House was initially called the Albert Victor Conservatory, and the reception party for the prince was hosted by Mysuru maharaja Chamaraja Wodeyar. The development of the Lalbagh garden, spread across 25 acres today , was commissioned by ruler of Mysuru, Haider Ali, in 1760 and was completed by his son Tipu Sultan. It was officially established as a government botanical garden in 1856. Its first-known plant census, conducted in 1861, records 1033 species. The idea of building the Glass House there was proposed by John Cameron, who took over as the superintendent of Lalbagh on March 1874. An expert in botany , he was trained at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew. Cameron introduced almost 160 new plant species in Lalbagh every year and was in charge for 33 years. The purpose of the Glass House was to facilitate acclimatization of plants and to use it as a venue for flower shows. Cameron passed on the baton to GH Krumbiegel in January 1908 and returned to England. The Glass House was renovated in 2004 at a cost of Rs 5 crore, involving 60,000 tones of glass (3505 unbreakable panes) and 1000 square meters of galvanized steel.