Tropical Greenhouse of the Évreux Botanical Garden ("Le Cube")

The Évreux botanical garden occupies the former communal garden of the town's Franciscan Capuchin friars, in the Pannette district. Their convent, whose cloister dates from 1620, went through a long series of uses after the Revolution: prison, central school, municipal school, college, lycée from 1857, military hospital during the First World War and college again in 1956. Today it houses the departmental conservatory of music and dance.

The garden was entirely remodelled in the 19th century to make the most of the sloping ground. A century earlier, Charles-Germain de Saint-Aubin had already drawn up an inventory of its collections; in 1833 the records of the Société libre de l'Eure mention its flowers and trees, and its tulips and roses even appear in Aurélien Scholl's novel Fleurs d'adultère.

The tropical greenhouse, nicknamed "Le Cube", was part of a multi-year renovation of the garden carried out under the municipality led by Guy Lefrand. Designed by the Évreux artist Christiane Müller and built for €813,000, it opened in early 2018, presented by the regional press as a new place for residents of the Eure's county town to stroll and escape. The French Wikipedia article on the garden speaks of a greenhouse "restored" in 2018, whereas France 3 describes a new building; none of the sources consulted describes an earlier greenhouse.

The nickname describes the shape: a cubic volume of metal and glass covering about 170 m² and rising to 10 m. It was conceived by Christiane Müller, an Évreux artist who also designed its decoration. Far from the long naves of the 19th century, the building has a compact, contemporary outline set in the middle of a garden laid out in terraces on a slope.

According to the French Wikipedia article on the garden, the greenhouse follows bioclimatic design principles and uses bio-based materials, in line with national guidelines on the environment and climate change. Inside, tropical temperature and humidity are kept up all year round, conditions described as essential to preserve the rare plants it holds and help them grow; tourist guides even warn visitors about their glasses fogging up as they step through the door. An aviary installed inside the greenhouse completes the arrangement.

The greenhouse presents a sample of the plant diversity of the tropical regions: more than 400 exotic plants, among them banana trees, papayas and ferns, grown as a small forest under glass in constant heat and humidity.

A pair of parrots lives in the aviary set up inside the greenhouse. The building also serves as the setting for the environmental education activities the town organises through the year: a jungle-themed escape game, a Halloween trail in search of hidden ghosts and a hunt for hidden figurines during the holidays, some of them aimed at children aged 4 to 10 and requiring booking.

Around the Cube, the botanical garden keeps several notable trees and grottoes set into the slope, which extend the walk outdoors.

The greenhouse stands in the botanical garden between Rue de Pannette and Rue Jean-Jaurès, close to the Capuchin cloister; the cloister walk can only be seen when the conservatory that occupies it is open. Allow about three quarters of an hour for the garden and the greenhouse. The garden has a children's playground, and during school holidays the greenhouse hosts family activities, some of which must be booked. In winter, stepping from the cold garden into the tropical atmosphere of the Cube makes the visit especially striking.