Palm House

This guide to the Palm House in Vienna opens on February 7, 1945, when bombs shatter every pane of the glasshouse and its exotic plants freeze in the winter cold, then goes back to 1882, when Emperor Franz Joseph opened it as the largest glasshouse in the world. You'll hear about engineer Ignaz Gridl's two-year build, the patch-job reconstruction that let through barely any light, and the closure that nearly ended the building for good before a public campaign stepped in. Look up at the panes that replaced the ones lost that February morning.