Archive for February de 2009
Better Know A Biome - 2009 Expo - The Glass House at Itchimbia
Posted by: The Lorax in: ● February 28, 2009
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This month’s biome isn’t strictly a biome - rather it’s the glass conservatory house in Parque Itchimbia, Quito, Pichincha Province. Germane to the ongoing series on the flowers of the 2009 Orchid Expo, the Glass House is a Victorian-style conservatory, purposely built in homage to the one at the Kew Royal Gardens in the UK. However, rather than housing a permanent collection, the Itchimbia Glass House is an exhibition hall primarily used by the botanical community in Ecuador. It was the site of the 2009 Orchid Expo, where three dozen growers and clubs filled the space with thousands of flowers.
The Glass House is set at the top of the extensive Parque Itchimbia, which was in turn a hacienda earlier in Quito’s history. It’s a very large park, some 54 hectares, and looks out over the historic center of the city from an altitude of about 2900 meters above sea level. The Glass House and the park itself are fairly recent additions - until 2003, the area was a dump and the haunt of delinquents. With grants from the city and country, the park was established and the glass house built, and it now serves as a recreation area and the point of exhibitions for the botanical community.
The hill itself has been inhabited in one form or another since pre-incan times, and there are a number of archaeological sites within the park, working to uncover the past of the city and learn more about these cultures by what they left behind. Itchimbia is considered to be one of the most important sites for the history of the Quitu people.
Tags: better know a biome
2009 Orchid Expo - Oncidium rhodostictura
Posted by: The Lorax in: ● February 27, 2009
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