Tree Museum With a Collection of 2,000 Trees Opens in Switzerland

filed under: Architecture, Landscape Architecture

Yesterday the Tree Museum opened outside of Zurich in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland, showcasing an incredible collection of 2,000 different species of trees. The museum was designed and built by Swiss landscape architect Enzo Enea with the help of Oppenheim Architecture + Design (OAD), who designed Enzo Enea’s new headquarters. The Tree Museum and the sustainably-built headquarters are located on the grounds of a 14th Century monastery, and the museum displays Enea’s personal collection of trees, which he has gathered over the past 17 years.

5 Responses to “Tree Museum With a Collection of 2,000 Trees Opens in Switzerland”

melissa king says:

June 15, 2010 at 3:02 pm

What a beautiful idea and gorgeous place! I’m ready to hop on a plane to visit this unique museum. With such an incredibly exquisite display of Mother Nature’s green beauties, you can be sure that the people who “experience” this museum will want to treat trees with the respect they deserve. I hope this idea catches on in other countries…. what a wonderful tribute to the majesty of trees! Thank you for sharing.
Gabs says:

June 17, 2010 at 12:02 am

super interesante!!
mum says:

June 17, 2010 at 7:01 pm

Lovely, civillized concept. Note the time span used to set it up.
Melissa has it occurred to you that the very act of hopping on a plane which so many of us do is unnecessary contribution to the environmental mess we are trying to cope with? perhaps more of us could plant and nurture foliage (indigenous of course)in the area we live so there becomes no need to travel to see them as the treasures that they are.
cheers Mum.
Amazing Hanging Garden is Suspended in the Sky | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World says:

October 20, 2010 at 7:16 pm

[...] tree for his installation and then participate in its re-planting when the exhibition ends. The living tree must also be watered and looked after throughout the exhibition. The process encourages local [...]
Erik van Lennep says:

March 5, 2011 at 6:59 am

Nice project, even if it does look a bit like a cemetery with all those slabs. I’m not sure the trees appreciate having their light source blocked from one side either. Within a season or so they will defoliate and become ragged on the shaded side.

But wouldn’t it be lovely to see many more such projects appear in other communities? Oh..wait a minute…. we already have them! They are called “arboretums”. This means simply, “places where trees are collected” and, umm, mused over. We’ve had them around since the Babylonians built their hanging gardens, and the Chinese emperors established palace gardens. Nothing new there

Other places to look for collections of trees near you are botanic gardens and parks. Might be fun to get to know them better.

Editorial note:
“…different varieties ranging from Taxus baccata to English yew, Pinus sylvestris, and Scotch pine…”
Actually Taxus baccata IS english Yew, and Pinus sylvestris IS Scotch Pine. Thus the list of four examples is really two.

Sometimes it’s good to do some homework before posting.