The Butterfly House in the Botanical Garden

4 APRIL – 22 OCTOBER 2023

Butterflies are beautiful and amazing and inspire enthusiasm everywhere. Their life cycle has fascinated artists, writers and scientists since Antiquity. They are textbook examples of millions of years of evolutionary history in interaction with plants and other animal species, where appearance and behavior are the results of constant adaptation to their surroundings.

As indicator species, the butterflies clearly show us how even tiny changes in life conditions, such as relatively small temperature fluctuations and lack of access to food, affect the population. Butterflies are very sensitive, and as a consequence they tell us directly if there is something wrong with nature.

In many parts of the world, the butterfly populations decrease drastically, and we are losing countless of animal and plant species with rapid speed. Humans play a crucial part in this matter and we must do something about it.

With around 10,000 plant species, the Botanical Garden is a biodiversity hotspot, and an open and vibrant laboratory. The Botanical Garden is therefore the perfect place to use our living nature to convey knowledge, enthusiasm and understanding. At the Natural History Museum of Denmark, we wish to create a closer connection between people and nature.

In recent years, the Botanical Garden has transformed the visitor experience for the better, where the Butterfly House is among the newest initiatives.