Mendel Museum, Brno
- Details
Scientific fields: Genetics, Meteorology, Bee-keeping
Star rating: ****
Summary description:
The museum presents the life and work of Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), at the site – the Augustinian Abbey in Brno – where he performed the experiments in plant cross-breeding that lie at the foundation of modern genetics. Although Mendel is best known for these experiments, he also carried out research in meteorology and dabbled in bee-keeping while at the Abbey. The museum is divided into 5 rooms. The first represents the Augustinian Abbey in the 19th century, the second focuses on Mendel as a person (including a display of his manuscripts and personal belongings), and the third is dedicated to his cultivation, fruit-growing, bee-keeping, and meteorological activities. The penultimate room introduces Mendel as a founder of the principles of heredity, while in the fifth and final room, the milestones of genetics are explained. Visitors can also walk in the garden where Mendel carried out his famous experiments on pea plants (see above) and look round Mendel’s beehouse. In the summer months, the garden showcases and further explains Mendel’s research into plant crossbreeding. A further feature of the museum is a series of artworks by contemporary European artists inspired by genetics.
Location:
Augustinian Abbey of St Thomas in Old Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
Getting there:
By car from Prague (213 km): take the Prague-Brno motorway E50/E65 and exit at Brno Centrum. By car from Vienna (110 km): take highway E461. Trains and buses: there are regular services to Brno from Vienna and Prague. From the main railway station or central bus station in Brno, take tramway number 1, direction Bystrc, which stops in front of the Abbey. Take tramway number 1, direction Reckovice, to return to the stations.
Background:
Apart from a few years at the University of Vienna, Mendel spent most of his adult life as a monk and then a priest at the abbey in Brno. Inspired both by his university professors and his colleagues at the monastery to study variation in plants, he conducted his studies in the abbey's two-hectare experimental garden, which was originally planted in 1830. Between 1856 and 1863 Mendel cultivated and tested some 29,000 pea plants. His experiments led him to make two generalisations about how characteristics are passed from one generation of to another, and these later became known as Mendel's Laws of Inheritance. It was not until the early 20th century that the importance of his ideas was first realised.
Opening hours and charges:
The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm (or 10 am to 6 pm from April to October). Visits on Monday only by special reservation. Charges range from 20 CZK each for groups of schoolchildren to 60 CZK for adults. Guided tours are available on request for groups (minimum 5 persons). Guided tour: 250 CZK for group. Call +42 543 42 40 43 for reservations and details. Disabled access to most areas. Café and restaurant in adjacent Starobrno Brewery.
Website: http://www.mendelmuseum.muni.cz
Related sites:
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, USA