Brno and the Mendel Museum

On Monday, August 10^th, which was the first day of the class, we traveled by bus to the Czech Republic to the city of Brno where the Mendel Museum is located.

 

We were met by Dr. Roman Hobza and Michaela Jarkovska, Assistant Director of the Museum. The Museum is affiliated with Masaryk University.

 

After arrival, the students spent a few minutes exploring the Museum grounds and visiting "the old man" himself:

 

This year, 2015, marks the 150^th anniversary of Mendel’s presentation of his genetics findings and new data gathering methodologies. The geographic area at the time of Mendel’s life where he was born and lived was called Morovia – variously occupied by Austria, Czech Republic and Germany. In honor of this 150^th year, the Museum has been hosting various celebrations and conferences all year. 

We found that the spot where Mendel’s greenhouse once stood now houses tables and chairs for a small café to serve museum visitors.  I like this change, but maybe I wouldn’t have put it on Mendel’s former greenhouse spot.

 

The students first listened to lectures presented by Mark and Roman: 

 

 

After these two lectures, it was time for lunch, so we walked to the wine cellar of the church, which is now a lovely restaurant named after an early queen of Morovia, Queen Elizabeth.  This restaurant cellar was noticeably cooler than the very hot outdoors:

 

 

Here are photos of the students, professors, etc., waiting for their entrees:

 

We ate a delicious lunch of Czech pork tenderloin or chicken or veggie followed by traditional apple strudel.  After lunch, Michaela took us further down into the cellar to see the wine storage, which area dates back to the 1300’s! 

 

We returned to the Museum lecture room and Michaela presented a talk on Mendel’s life to the students:

Afterwards, Michaela took the students on a tour through the monastery, St. Augustine church, and the Museum grounds:

 

 

 

This was a long day for our first official class day!  Time for us to return home by bus.

Tomorrow, it will be class lecture by Mark at the University of Vienna, in their 6^th floor classroom.