Tropical Greenhouse (Tropiska växthuset), Uppsala University Botanical Garden

The tropical greenhouse is a twentieth-century addition to a botanical garden whose roots go back to the seventeenth century. According to a university press release, it was built in the 1930s to house plants from every corner of the world and renovated in the 1980s into its present form. English-language Wikipedia gives the year 1930 without a further source; the university's own pages stay with the decade.

Its recent history is more eventful. On 30 November 2004 the university announced that the greenhouse would close on 1 December. Three reasons were given: a study by Professor Jon Ågren found that research needs for a tropical greenhouse had declined; the Swedish Work Environment Authority had noted shortcomings in 2003, some of which persisted in May 2004 (glaring lighting, unreliable climate control); and the rector, Bo Sundqvist, held that the savings imposed on research and teaching should also affect what the university offers the public. A consultancy put the cost of bringing the house up to standard at 4 to 5 million kronor, against running costs of about 3 million a year for some 8,000 visitors. The plants were to be moved out before 30 June 2005.

On 7 June 2005 a new release, headed "Tropiska växthuset räddas" (the tropical greenhouse is saved), reversed course: the rector committed 3.2 million kronor to a refurbishment. Floor area fell from 1,131 to 893 m², a new climate installation was planned, plastic was to give way to glass throughout, and an entrance with a conservatory-style annexe was added at the back for groups.

The greenhouse is known to date from the 1930s, to have been reworked in the 1980s, and to have covered 1,131 m² before the refurbishment decided in 2005, which reduced it to 893 m². The building outline in OpenStreetMap shows an irregular footprint some fifty metres across at its longest, on a single level.

The 2005 works give the main technical features. The university's release provides for a new climate installation, following the control faults reported in 2004, and for plastic to be replaced by glass "on the whole greenhouse", which implies that part of the glazing had until then been plastic. A new entrance, with an uterum (a glazed room or conservatory) built at the rear, gives groups a gathering space that had been missing.

Inside, the route passes from one atmosphere to another. Swedish Wikipedia speaks of plants from both tropical and arid environments, whereas the university and the tourist office mostly describe a rainforest with lianas, large leaves and carnivorous plants. The Victoriasalen, the giant water-lily hall, contains a pool on which the leaves float.

The present display is organised around the rainforest. Uppsala's tourist office pages list palms, banana plants, coffee trees and orchids, together with lianas, large leaves and carnivorous plants. A photo caption from the garden also mentions a flowering feijoa. On sunny days, the tourist office says, the call of poison dart frogs can be heard in the greenery.

The plant mentioned most often is the giant water lily of the genus Victoria. The university gives its leaves a diameter of up to two metres, while a garden caption speaks of leaves a metre across. Wikimedia Commons photographs disagree on the species (Victoria amazonica for a view of the greenhouse, Victoria cruziana for other images from the garden); the university itself names only the genus.

In its 2004 release the university listed among the greenhouse's assets one of the finest collections in the world of "Sankta Paula" (the Swedish name, kept as written), the very unusual flower Cyclamen somalense and the Victoria water lily. These mentions are more than twenty years old, so the collections may have changed since.

The greenhouse stands at Villavägen 8, in the newest part of the garden, across Norbyvägen; the Linneanum orangery lies roughly two hundred metres further north (OpenStreetMap coordinates). It is open all year, except on Midsummer Eve and from the last weekend before Christmas to New Year's Eve. Its modest scale, under 900 m², means it can be seen without giving up half a day.

The garden runs guided tours on the first Sunday of the month at 1 pm in the cold season, a New Year opening and, in August, one to three tropical evenings open until 9 pm, when the giant water lily may bloom "with a bit of luck". Café Victoria shares the address from May to September. Wheelchair access is available.