300 year of passion counts
© Lifecruiser, Tulip House, Stockholm
This is our celebration to the passion of nature. Today Sweden start a 300 years anniversery of the birth of Carl Linneaus, the passionated (at least for nature ;-) Swede that travelled around the world making up a sexual system of all living things.
It’s him we shall thank for a lot of the species names in the system. He started it all. Think about it, what a work to categorize it all! Truly amazing work he did. I do wonder though if he had that much time left for passion with his wife….? *lol*
From what I can understand Linnaeus was rather open and frank when he compared it to the human sexual reproduction and at that time people were a bit chocked at first, but his very useful scheme took the world by storm.
Sweden celebrates his birth 300 years ago with a lot of events during this year, starting with an opening by the Swedish Royal King and fireworks among other popular happenings. Though even other countries celebrates him with exhibitions some time during the year: Japan, France, Polen, Germany and Great Britain.
They’re giving out an anniversary book, named System och passion (”A Passion for Systems”) which I’m planning to get later if I can find it on any sale, because it’s reather expensive. It will use photographs to show how his system is built up, describing both history and development of the plant classification system from then to now.
If any one of you have the chance to go to the Chelsea Flower Show the 22-26th May in London, there will be a whole garden celebrating Linneaus. I really would have want to go to there, not only for the Linneaus garden, but it’s Chelsea flower show for gods sake!!!! Any gardeners dream, but even ordinary people that appreciate flowers will be in heaven…
Even his journeys are covered by a film about his expeditions, covering the seven continents he went to - it’s quite an achievement just to make a film about it, can you imagine how it was when Linneaus travelled that route 300 years ago???
This documentary “The Expedition Linné” is planned to be released in March 2007 by the world-renowned National Geographic photographer Mattias Klum and producer Folke Rydén. We really want to see that one. If we get the chance, we’ll also report to you about it.
1732 Linnaeus went on his first adventurous expedition, to the sub-Arctic Lapland (high up in the northern Sweden), which was practically unknown at that time. It was from this trip he wrote the first work to use the Sexual System: The Florula Lapponica.
One can only speculate in how difficult that work must have been at that time, with no modern help tools. As you can see in the picture, it wasn’t much he had.
Photo: Sören Hallgren
© The Linnaeus Museum
(Carl Linnaeus home 1743-1778)
Chelsea Flower Show 2007
Chelsea Flower Show 2006 Panorama pictures
