Orchid House, Institute of Botany

Founded in 1928 by the botanist Frederico Carlos Hoehne in the São Paulo Botanical Garden (Parque da Água Funda), the Orquidário originally paired a ripado — a slatted shade structure — with two glasshouses, an arrangement that went on to influence residential garden architecture across the city. The present scientific collection holds around 18,000 specimens representing 600 to 700 orchid species, mostly native to Brazil and several of them endangered. Two glasshouses stay open to the public year-round, and two orchid shows have been held annually since 1992.