THE OPERA APIARY

Since 2021, three beehives have been installed on the roofs of La Monnaie. Three queen bees and numerous Buckfast bees are at work there. Due to intense summer heat or an excessive number of wasps, new swarms are sometimes reintroduced, as was the case in the springs of 2023 and 2026.

Brussels honey, a high-quality product

The bee is doing well in the city. The average temperature is higher than in the countryside, there is less wind and pesticides are almost completely absent. The opera’s honey is called "all-flower" because of the city’s diversity of floral species, thanks to the many green spaces, parks, wastelands, gardens and balconies.

The bee, sentinel of the quality of our environment

While the honey bee is the most common and well-known species, there are also wild bees that represent a high number of pollinators and contribute to the pollination of 80% of the flowering plant species essential to our food. Protecting them is therefore essential!

Did you know that?

To produce 100g of honey, the bees had to make 10,000 flights, travel 20,000 km and pick 10 million flowers. 

keen to taste?

Ever since these three beehives were installed, La Monnaie has been producing between 30 and 50 kilos of honey each year. Most of it is distributed to our staff and the artists appearing in our productions. But a few jars may well find their way to some members of our audience as well very soon...