Lal Bagh Botanical Garden is a well known botanical garden in Bangalore, India The garden was commissioned by the ruler of Mysore, Hyder Ali. It has a famous glass house which hosts yearly flower show. It also has an aquarium and a lake, and one of the tourist attractions in Bangalore.

The Glass House at Lal Bagh :

There is a stunning resemblance between Bangalore in India and London in England, as many structures in Bangalore city have been modelled upon the structures in London. The foremost of these structures is “The Glass House of Lalbagh”. Constructed in the year 1890 on the model of Crystal Palace of London. The Crystal Palace was constructed in the year 1851 at Hyde Park, London, to house the world’s first and great exhibition. This was a huge glass conservatory measuring 1600’X 384’.

After the exhibition was over, the glass conservatory was removed from the exhibition ground and refixed on the top of the Sydenham hill in South London. There it remained as an important centre for musical programmes, athletic and exhibitions until 1936, during that year it accidentally caught fire and was burnt down. Thus, the glory of the great structure ‘CRYSTAL PALACE’ ended. Only its model remained with ‘The Glass House’ in Lalbagh, Bangalore. Hence, it may not be wrong to call the Glass House of Lalbagh as the Crystal Palace of India.

The garden surrounds one of the towers erected by the founder of Bangalore, Kempe Gowda. Hyder Ali decided to create this garden on the lines of the Mughal Gardens that were gaining popularity during his time. The park has some rare species of plants brought from Persia, Afghanistan and France. With an intricate watering system for irrigation, this garden is aesthetically designed, with lawns, flowerbeds, lotus pools and fountains. Most of the centuries old trees are labeled for easy identification. The Lal Bagh Rock, one of the oldest rock formations on earth, dating back to 3000 million years, is another attraction that brings the crowds