The Parque Eduardo VII is catalogued as the biggest garden in the city of Lisbon. Within are areas for children to play, for sporting activities and great avenues that invite you to stroll down then towards our main objective: the Estufa Fria.
It would appear that this construction came about by chance. At a far end of the park was an abandoned quarry wich a gardener noticed was facing south. He decided to take advantage of this warm spot, to grow the plants that were most vulnerable to cold north winds. The idea proved so successful that in 1930 the public were invited to see what was now called "Estufa Fria". It owes its name to the fact that its simple wooden lath roof gives shade but no heat unlike its neighbour the "Estufa Quente". Built at the end of the fifties on the highest point of the quarry, its roof and walls are of glass, in order to capture the maximun amount of light and heat. A lake, whose shores try to create a subtropical ambience, completes the scene.
According to those responsible for its upkeep, the Estufa Fria has never pretended to be a botanical garden in the true sense. It is, rather, an area that is allowed to grow as naturally as possible, protected from the Lisboan extremes of climate, and a place where plants from a variety of backgrounds can flourish.
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Estufa Fria
