all Linnaeus, all the time

This year somehow has had threads of Linnaeus, Lamarck and the Jardin des Plantes (botanical garden) running through it.

When I was visiting the Jardin in 2004, the rather grand building at the end of the promenade was of course unmissable

but I have to say I didn't really think about what it might be.

I made a point of returning to the garden in April of 2007 but I still only used the building as a photo backdrop

It wasn't until I read Paris to the Moon in May, post-visit, that I realized there were exhibits in the grand buildings, and it wasn't until later that month when I read Everything is Miscellaneous that I discovered that Lamarck had been a professor at the institution that includes the grand garden buildings, the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.

A week after that, at the very end of May, I pointed to Linnaeus and his passion for order, in National Geographic.

Then in June I found myself at the IATUL conference in Sweden, with a day-trip to Uppsala, and of course, having not really paid attention to the details of the excursion and the location beforehand, it wasn't until I got there that I realized there would be a great deal about Linnaeus, since he was Chair of Botany at Uppsala University (Uppsala universitet), plus which it's the 300th anniversary of his birth.  He's buried in Uppsala Cathedral (Uppsala domkyrka) - the tomb, inset in the floor, is surrounded by small plants and flowers.  There was also an exhibit at Carolina Rediviva, the main building of the Uppsala University library.

Although there weren't many display cases, the exhibit was most ably described by our guide, who if I understood correctly also happens to be the head of the library.  I learned that as part of his system of the world, Linn had also had a classsification for minerals, but it didn't catch on.

Then we went to Linnaeus' Hammarby, which was his summer cottage.  Unless you are particularly fascinated by rooms in a cottage, there's not that much to see there, although the grounds are pleasant.

You can read more about the Swedish celebrations of his life and work at

http://www.linnaeus2007.se/

And as the conclusion of my Swedish Linnaeus thread, I received the book Carl Linnaeus as a speaker gift.

Back in Paris for a day, I walked to the Jardin des Plantes, determined to finally explore the natural history museum.  To my surprise, I found myself on Linnaeus Street

The Grande Galerie de l'Évolution really is quite grand

You can see the Minerology Museum just to the left of it.

Inside the Gallery is a large open space, dimly lit, with animal reconstructions as its main focus.

The centre of the Gallery is given over to a grand procession of African animals.

There are also book displays (I don't know if they are the original books) of the writings of Lamarck (first, naturally) and then Darwin.

It's hard to convey a good sense of the interior, but I can at least say that on a warm day where tourists were presumably clambering over themselves at the main Parisian attractions, the gallery was cool and (perhaps sadly) quiet.