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A covered green space in England conjures up the tropics. Boasting the largest rainforest in Europe, the Eden Project shows visitors the beauty of this special biotope. Part 2 of our series "Extreme Places".

Colorful diversity: More than 100,000 plants attract visitors to the facility in the southwest of England.

Whether the biblical Garden of Eden ever actually existed is uncertain, but it was supposed to have been a green paradise, a place in which humans lived in harmony with nature. Today, this vision seems to have become a reality in the south of England, and can be found in the county of Cornwall: a present day Garden of Eden. It took six years to bring the Eden Project to life, to turn a wasteland where clay was mined in the past, into a fertile oasis. The Eden Project covers an area of 50 hectares, and features around 100,000 plants from all around the world. Reproductions of biotopes from different climate zones of the Earth have been created – the natural landscapes of the world in small format.

Sophisticated architecture for plants from all over the world

Worth seeing even from the outside: plants from different climate zones thrive in these extraordinary greenhouses.

Two greenhouses in the form of geodesic domes cover part of the site, looking like large bubbles that have stuck to one another. Inside these domes, stable climatic conditions are maintained, and the lush vegetation unfurls under the honeycombed hexagons of plastic foil. The free-standing structures are up to 50 meters high and 240 meters (787 ft.) wide. They are gigantic constructions that nonetheless seem surprisingly delicate. The larger of the two greenhouses is home to the largest covered rainforest in the world. Mangroves, rubber trees, ferns and banana plants grow here, in tropical temperatures on a 16,000-square-meter area of land. The result is a dense, jungle-like environment that visitors can explore.

Between palms, orchids and cocoa trees

That is exactly what reporter Hendrik Welling did. For the series "Europe to the Maxx" on DW's lifestyle and culture magazine "Euromaxx", he immersed himself in the green thicket, discovered exotic plants at close quarters and found out about the history of this extraordinary project. And he learned about the enormous importance of the rainforests around the globe for our climate. You can join him on his tour by watching our video!

Anyone who wishes to do so can learn about this precious biotope at Eden Project. The enclosure is, after all, not an amusement park, but an educational center and environmental organisation. The core idea is that only those who experience the beauty of nature and engage with it can also protect it – an issue that seems more urgent today than ever.

Address: Eden Project, Bodelva, Cornwall, PL 24 2SG, England

Getting there: Bt train from London to St Austell, from there by 101 bus.

Opening hours: daily between 9:45 a.m. and 4 p.m. or 9:15 a.m. and 6 p.m., closed for gardening maintenance on selected days

Admission: Adults from £29.50, Children from  £10

Special tip: Every summer, there are concerts featuring renowned musicians from around the world, during which the Eden Project's greenhouse domes are illuminated atmospherically.

Europe at its most extreme: The series "Europe to the Maxx" on DW's lifestyle and culture magazine Euromaxx makes Europe's superlatives experienceable — from extraordinary architecture to spectacular landscapes to unique cultural phenomena. Accompanying the series, the book 111 Extreme Places in Europe That You Shouldn't Miss was published in cooperation with Emons Verlag. It is an alternative travel guide, both informative and entertaining, for avid travelers, fans of Europe and anyone who likes to show off with unusual pub quiz trivia. Full of guaranteed record breakers!

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