Dark Large Blue Named Butterfly of the Year 2026: BIOGENA Creates Habitat for the Rare Species in Koppl

With BICANA - Biogena Celtic Art & Nature Area - BIOGENA is expanding the GOOD HEALTH WORLD with a place where biodiversity, art, history and holistic health come together.

Salzburg, May 20, 2026. The Dusky Large Blue has been named Butterfly of the Year 2026 by Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) and the BUND North Rhine-Westphalia Nature Conservation Foundation. For BIOGENA, this distinction is far more than welcome news from the world of nature conservation: the rare butterfly lives in the immediate vicinity of the BIOGENA GOOD HEALTH WORLD in Koppl, symbolizing an ambition that has shaped the site from the very beginning. After all, Koppl is home to more than a corporate building. It is a habitat for people, meaningful work and nature.

The Dusky Large Blue is a rather inconspicuous cinnamon-brown butterfly with a wingspan of around three centimeters. Its life cycle, however, is exceptionally complex and highly sensitive: the species depends closely on the great burnet plant and red ants. The butterfly uses the flowers of the great burnet as a food source and as a place to lay its eggs. Its larvae are then carried by red ants into their nests, where they develop, pupate and emerge as butterflies the following summer.

It is precisely this close interdependence that makes the Dusky Large Blue a sensitive indicator of functioning ecosystems. Even minor changes in land management, soil moisture or climate can disrupt the fragile interaction between plant, ant and butterfly. Intensive grassland use, the decline of suitable meadow habitats and the effects of the climate crisis are placing pressure on this rare species. In Germany, its conservation status is currently classified as “unfavourable-inadequate”, with a declining trend.

Against this backdrop, the butterfly’s presence at the Koppl site is particularly significant. During the development of the BIOGENA GOOD HEALTH WORLD, habitats were not only protected but actively expanded; areas inhabited by the Dusky Large Blue were carefully relocated and enlarged; and biodiversity was treated not as a secondary consideration, but as an integral part of the planning process.

“Sometimes the quietest signals speak the loudest. The fact that the Dusky Large Blue lives in our immediate surroundings confirms that we are on the right path,” says Dr. Albert Schmidbauer, founder and CEO of BIOGENA. “With the GOOD HEALTH WORLD and projects such as BICANA, we take a holistic view of health - for people and for nature. Because true health does not begin with a product, but with the system in which we live.”

Directly adjacent to the BIOGENA GOOD HEALTH WORLD, BICANA - Biogena Celtic Art & Nature Area - is taking shape as a distinctive space for nature and experience. The biotope brings together landscape, water, art and European history, creating a place of tranquillity, inspiration and local recreation. The atmosphere changes as soon as visitors enter: the path leads away from everyday life and into surroundings that gradually unfold step by step.

At the heart of the site are monoliths arranged in the form of the BIOGENA GROUP’s energy figure eight - a symbol of movement, balance and connection. The water reflects the forms, softens their contours and creates a quiet, focused atmosphere. A walkway guides visitors through the landscape and past steel sculptures that provide distinctive accents and continue the dialogue between nature and art.

One of the defining works is “Cosmic Dialogue” by Christiane Pott-Schlager. The sculpture brings lines together, opens up spaces and creates a tension that resonates beyond the moment. Another striking feature is the Celtic boar, created by Atelier Fahrner. It represents presence, strength and vigilance, marking a section where history, nature and symbolic depth become especially tangible.

In the coming weeks, BICANA will gain a further dimension: the Celtic Kingdom exhibition is moving from Carinthia to Salzburg and will find its new home at BICANA. A 24-metre-long container structure will house a Celtic exhibition featuring objects that have survived for more than three millennia. They tell stories of craftsmanship, thought, spirituality and a Europe in which people and nature were closely connected.

BICANA is thus becoming a place that goes far beyond conventional landscape design. It combines biodiversity with art, recreation with history, and health culture with ecological responsibility. Visitors can enjoy a form of local recreation that requires no long journey: just a few steps are enough to gain distance from everyday life, experience stillness and find renewed clarity.

“Health gains an additional dimension here,” says Schmidbauer. “One that does not need to be measured to be felt. It feels more comprehensive - broader, deeper and more elemental.”

The BIOGENA GOOD HEALTH WORLD in Koppl represents a holistic understanding of health. With BICANA, this approach also becomes visible outdoors: health is not viewed in isolation, but as an interplay between people, nature, culture, encounters and surroundings.

In the future, BIMOCAS - Biogena Museum Of Contemporary Art Salzburg - will complement BICANA as its indoor counterpart. As part of the third expansion phase of the GOOD HEALTH WORLD, the plans include additional spaces for communication and encounters, a small boutique hotel offering views of and into the museum, and a permanent home for the BIOGENA art collection.

The selection of the Dusky Large Blue as Butterfly of the Year 2026 therefore highlights the importance of quiet, often overlooked habitats that are essential to ecological diversity. Koppl demonstrates how corporate development, nature conservation, art and holistic health can be conceived together.