The Pescatore Fondation’s orchid greenhouse will enable visitors of the LUGA to admire a large number of tropical orchids, like those Jean-Pierre Pescatore used to grow in the greenhouses on his estate at La Celle-Saint-Cloud near Paris.
This exceptionally large-scale project will be organised to commemorate and honour the merits of Europe’s greatest orchid collector and grower of the mid-19th century, Jean-Pierre Pescatore, a native of Luxembourg City. Part of his collection of over 2,000 plants will be reproduced in a greenhouse set in a highly symbolic location: the grounds of his foundation, which today houses a charitable home for the elderly and was the site of one of Luxembourg’s first horticultural exhibitions exactly 150 years ago, in 1875.
Did you know that in the mid-19th century, the largest private collection of orchids in Europe belonged to a man from Luxembourg?
Jean-Pierre Pescatore (1793-1855) was a Luxembourgish businessman and philanthropist. He is best known for having financed the Fondation Pescatore, the rest home located in the City of Luxembourg. Emigrating to Paris in 1837, he acquired the Château de La Celle Saint-Cloud in 1844, where he created, among other things, a famous orchid greenhouse housing over 2,000 orchids, including more than 700 different varieties, attracting all of Parisian high society. Emperor Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon I) and Empress Eugénie were among the visitors.
A postcard (around 1910) of the Château de La Celle-Saint-Cloud, showing an orchid greenhouse on the left and an orangery on the right.
Jean-Jules Linden (1837-1898), also born in Luxembourg, whose main patron was Jean-Pierre Pescatore, supplied him with several species of orchid discovered in Central America during his expeditions, such as Lüddemannia Pescatorei and Uropedium Lindenii. Linden also published an iconography of his orchid collection entitled Pescatorea, which can be consulted at the National Library of Luxembourg.
The Fondation J.-P. Pescatore, located in the heart of the city, is an institution that is more than a hundred years old and a pioneer in the field of retirement homes. It was created in the will of Jean-Pierre Pescatore, who paved the way for the construction of a charitable establishment on the territory of the City of Luxembourg.
Amazone Orchidées, with 40 years’ experience, specialises in orchid hybridisation, i.e. the creation of new varieties. The company has been working with orchids since 1980, growing almost 1,500 species and varieties. These are regularly presented at exhibitions across Europe. The orchid greenhouse will be furnished by orchid specialist and horticulturist Gérard Schmidt from Amazone Orchidées.
