🇧🇪Belgium·Restricted access (April–May)
Serres Royales de Laeken
Brussels
- Year
- 1874–1905
- Architect
- Alphonse Balat
- Style
- Iron and glass, an early precursor of Art Nouveau
- Dimensions
- 2.5 ha · Winter Garden: 57 m in diameter
« Open to the public for only a few weeks each year, in spring. »
Commissioned by Leopold II from Alphonse Balat, later the mentor of Victor Horta, these greenhouses mark a pivotal step between Victorian metal architecture and the emerging Art Nouveau. The Winter Garden, a 57-meter rotunda crowned with a glass cupola, still hosts state banquets and royal receptions today. Still owned by the royal family, the complex of ten greenhouses linked by galleries opens to visitors for only two to three weeks a year.
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50.90° N, 4.36° E