[1] Since 2019, the two remaining orangeries have been transformed into a third place hosting residences for artists and researchers as well as cultural activities, periodically open to the public.

But wealthy men, for whom floriculture is a relaxation and a source of lessons, not being subject to the same obligations, can raise these palaces where art is combined with the need for plants, where good taste comes in aid of the mathematical science of the builder.

All these greenhouses, entirely constructed of iron and glazed on all sides, with the exception of the orangeries, were erected on the designs and under the direction of Mr. Petersen, whose talent as an architect and as a gardener has grown once unveiled on Belgian soil.

The culture and the beauty, even considered individually, of the myriads of plants which shelter these greenhouses, the irreproachable behavior of these, their magnificence standing out in the middle of one of the most beautiful parks that we have seen, all this property of the most richly endowed with what nature and art have that is rarest and most splendid, make this domain one of those marvels that one dares not describe for fear of remaining below reality.

What amateur is there, Belgian or foreign, who does not know the beautiful estate of Bierbais, the turrets of which may be seen close to the railway station of Mont-Saint-Guibert; with its modern chateau built upon an eminence in the midst of a park full of fine old trees; its magnificent conservatories and ranges of fruit-houses, where the finest Grapes, Strawberries, Pine Apples, Apricots, and Peaches, thrive and bear spontaneously, and at all seasons side by side with the most beautiful specimens of Asiatic, African and American vegetation.

The body of the building has a glazed roof, with upright sashes on the south side, and is divided into three compartments, the first of which serves as a greenhouse, and contain a collection of the rarest Conifers and other plants belonging to this class.

Among them are specimens of the most beautiful species of Podocarpus and Araucaria, amongst others A. excelsa and Cunninghamii, large enough to bear cones; of exotic Pinus, Cupressus, Taxodium, and Cryptomeria, perfectly cultivated and of grand dimensions.

Extremely rare species of Chamaerops, Balantium, and Marattia, in the form of gigantic specimens, extend their long fronds above the smaller plants, which thus expand their flower beneath the shadow that plays above them.

Here we have a perfect flower garden, intersected by paths and ornamented with basins, rockwork, and jets of water, which play amongst the green verdure.

This is the place in which to see Orchids, Tillandsias, Aechmeas, Heliconias, Caladiuns, Aroids, and Ferns as they really appear amidst the strange and magnificent variety of the most luxuriant vegetation of the tropics.

Between the rocks are placed numbers of rare Orchids, now alternating with Tillandsias and Ferns, now with Caladiums, or species of Pothos and Philodendron; amongst them were most especially remarkable Cattleya Trianæi and elegans; Odontoglossum nebulosum, Pescatorei, and grande; Coelogyne maculata and Wallichii, Saccolabium violaceum and retusum, Schomburgkia crispa and marginata; Huntleya meleagris, Vanda Batemanni, Oncidium Lanceanum, and many other striking species.

"[11] Only two years before, in 1857, the flowering of specimens of Laelia elegans caught the attention of the Allgemeine Gartenzeitung [de]: “This plant is so rare in cultivation that it has only been sent to us three times.

Contemporary Les Orangeries de Bierbais want to examine how the rural environment (in dialectic with urbanity) can affect human emancipation and how Peace in the world can be thought of, from such a place, in connection with the omnipresent war, without escaping it.