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MuSe is the Science Museum of Trento, opened on July 27, 2013, and replacing the Tridentine Museum of Natural Sciences. It’s in the building designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Le Albere district of the city.

The profile of the structure recalls the jagged shape of the Trentino mountains and, in particular, of the Dolomites. Inside the museum, there is the 718-square yard tropical greenhouse, which hosts a piece of the Udzungwa Mountain Range (Tropical East Africa).

The province of Trento has, in fact, recently built a research station in the Udzungwa Mountains, one of the most important and fragile biodiversity centres in the world, now managed by MuSe and Tanzania National Park. That very area is a point of reference for studying and safeguarding world biodiversity. For instance, Italian researchers have been studying for 10 years the effects of the climate on the natural ecosystems in the Alpine environment; they’ve also researched “ex-situ” cultivation techniques of alpine plant species and the conservation of tropical and subtropical environments.

Plants

Inside the greenhouse, which looks and feels like the very heart of a rainforest (it even features two waterfalls), there’s a multitude of different plant species: the main ones come from the Ficus, Dracena and Philodendron genera.

There is also an area whit tropical plants widely cultivated around the world, including cocoa (Theobroma cacao), coffee (Coffea spp ), and banana (Musa spp.)

In total, there are about 130 species inside the greenhouse, enjoying a 30° C constant temperature and 70-80% humidity. Many of those plants are commonly used for food, medicinal and cosmetic preparations.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)