Schmetterlingwelt Tattendorf (Dumba Park butterfly house)

The Dumba Park grounds have an industrial past. According to Wikipedia, Franz Girardoni had a cotton-spinning mill built there between 1825 and 1828; bankrupt in 1853, it passed to Theodor Dumba and then to his cousin Nikolaus Dumba (1830-1900), an art patron, who expanded it. The factory employed about 180 people, stayed in operation until 1945, and its buildings were demolished in 1991. A provincial press release places the mill in the 18th century, a dating that does not fit this chronology.

The conversion into a leisure park began in 2012 with the Rahofer Bräu, a brewery-restaurant built on the base of the mill's former canteen. A climbing park followed (2013 according to the park's own site), then a dinosaur park in 2017 and sleeping barrels in 2018. The butterfly house came next: carried out from 2019 to 2021 with the help of international experts, among them the island of Mainau, which acted as its sponsor, it received regional ecoplus funding from the province of Lower Austria. The operator is GTI Gastro- und Tourismus Investment.

Open to visitors from early May 2021, the Schmetterlingwelt was officially inaugurated on 31 March 2022 in the presence of the provincial councillor for tourism. Its promoters expected up to 40,000 visitors a year and about ten jobs, with an educational programme and research on butterfly behaviour. Then presented as a year-round attraction, it now shows on the park's website a season that resumes at Easter; the 2026 season is declared over there.

The press releases and articles consulted describe a "Glashaus" of about 600 m², designed as a tropical glasshouse with automatic climate control. A local press article speaks of a "High-Tech-Glashaus" whose shading, sprinkling and ventilation run fully automatically, and the regional broadcaster ORF reports that everything is computer-controlled. Climate figures vary between articles: 25 to 27 °C and 70 to 90 % humidity.

The glasshouse incorporates a large foyer, which forms the central access point of the whole Dumba Park: visitors enter the butterfly house as they do the rest of the site. The same article claims that the project is energy self-sufficient thanks to a biomass heating plant belonging to the operation and to hydropower; this claim is not repeated in the official releases.

The butterflies come exclusively from controlled breeding: the official site states that no wild butterflies are caught for the house. Pupae arrive regularly from breeding farms in Costa Rica and other countries, about 200 a week according to ORF, and part of the population reproduces on site. The number of species runs from about fifteen to about twenty, and that of butterflies from several hundred to about 500. The blue morpho, the most striking, appears in the logo; ORF also names the banana butterfly, with origins in Costa Rica, South America and Asia.

The planting includes palms, orchids, among them rare species according to the local press, and passion flowers, among the nectar plants the butterflies need. Feeding stations offer fresh fruit. A "Puppenhaus" lets visitors watch the butterflies emerge, and seven dwarf quails, says a pre-opening article, clear fallen scraps from the floor.

The butterfly house serves as the entrance to the whole Dumba Park, which covers more than a hectare at Tattendorf, about twenty kilometres from Vienna's city boundary. The park also has a dinosaur park, a climbing park, the Rahofer Bräu and sleeping barrels; a joint admission ticket covers the dinosaurs and the butterfly house. The butterflies fly in season, from Easter onwards; the 2026 season is over. The EuroVelo 9a cycle route runs past the park, and the official site mentions direct ÖBB train services from Vienna's main station.