In November 2019, the City of Tournai's Natural History Museum and Vivarium opened a fifteen-acre scientific pleasure garden that combines education with relaxation for its visitors. The aim is to give visitors as much freedom as possible to use the site and to encourage different and surprising encounters as they explore it. Although located in the dense urban heart of the city, it is a place that immediately gives off an impression of calm and airiness. In the middle of the site stands a huge lime tree that creates a strong polarity in the garden, reinforced by the fact that it stands on a mound, elevated above the general level of the garden. It is therefore a place "apart", with different atmospheres due to its topography, as well as the manmade and natural elements that make it up. The route around the site is a continuous one, with no need to turn back. The visitor passes through the different environments, discovering them one after the other as they progress, allowing them to move from one universe to another. You'll have the chance to discover various enclosures featuring European species of turtle, snake and lizard, an enclosure where some of our native amphibians thrive, flower meadows providing cover for the bees that swarm in an educational hive, a raised touch-pool in which various species of fish from our regions live, and a magnificent greenhouse for exotic butterflies.
Conceived and designed according to a sustainable model, the garden consumes very little energy and is therefore only accessible from 1 April to 31 October.