The Gigantic Hive at Kew Gardens

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew has an extraordinary 17 metre high Hive Installation of sound and light which is controlled by vibrations of honeybees in a hive not far away in the Gardens.

Wolfgang Buttress has created a stunning installation to highlight the importance of pollinators for our existence and to give visitors a direct sense of the way bees communicate. By holding a wooden stick in one’s mouth which is connected to a conductor,  the waggle dance which shows a good food location, food requests(as bees feed one another & quacking & tooting when the virgin queens challenge each other for the right to reign the hive become evident. Martin Bencsik a honeybee research communication expert has developed this experience which is unique outside of a research laboratory. A meadow nearby has also been planted with a range of wildflowers to feed the bees.

For more information visit  Kew Gardens