Berggarten (Mountain Garden), Hanover (must see)

The Mountain Garden (Berggarten), located in the Herrenhausen district of Hanover, originally started as a vegetable and nursery garden on the side of an Ice Age sand dune. Over time, it transformed into a botanical garden. In the year 2000, a rainforest house was constructed here, which was later converted into an aquarium in 2006. This garden is part of the Herrenhausen Gardens, along with the Great Garden, Georgengarten, and Welfengarten.

Within the Mountain Garden, you can explore various show houses and themed gardens that currently house an impressive collection of 11,000 different plants from diverse climatic regions. Notably, it boasts the largest orchid collection in Europe.

There are plans to replace the 40-year-old Canary House with a new three-part show house. This new structure will provide a better environment for the growth of trees and towering inflorescences from the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean region. One section of the building will accommodate a warm water basin for giant tropical water lilies and serve as a habitat for exotic butterflies. Construction is set to commence in 2022 with an expected completion date in 2024.

Previously, the site where the Rainforest House stands was the location of the Palm House Expo 2000. The Rainforest House was initially designed to replicate an artificial tropical landscape, housing butterflies, frogs, and smaller bird species from tropical regions. However, it had to be closed down in 2006 due to its high operational costs.

Subsequently, the Rainforest House was transformed into a Sealife Aquarium, preserving the tropical rainforest environment. It is the first almost entirely tropical sealife center, featuring a deep-sea basin with a capacity of 300,000 liters of water. Visitors can observe a large ocean basin inhabited by sharks and turtles through an eight-meter-long acrylic glass tunnel, which is four meters deep.