July 25 Exploring Brno (Day 302)
A day of religious and cultural exploration! We set out early enough to ensure the cathedral was open for viewing and climbing the bell tower.
The morning light illuminated the stained glass.
At the first level of the bell tower is a room displaying the treasures of the cathedral. This is part of the of the churches treasures, which were looted after several wars, and also sold off in times of destitute after the wars!
The view of the old town from one of the bell towers.
We continued on to the main square of old town where there was a farmers market in progress.
We got gelatos from the pink truck!
Down one street from the square we reached ‘Bishops Courtyard’, where scientific history was made in the 1860’s! The science of genetics began when Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian monk in Brno, conducted experiments with pea plants over several generations from 1856-1863 and deduced that characteristics are inherited from parent plants as distinct units, one from each parent, and that these characteristics can be ‘dominant’ or ‘recessive’, sometimes skipping generations. His work was not recognized for its importance until after his death. In 1900 several other researchers expanded on his 3 “Laws of Inheritance” and further research eventually led to the discovery of DNA as the “units” inherited from the parents. Fast forward to 1975 and I’m in high school learning about Gregor Mendel and genetics and the subsequent research that identified the mechanism of inheritance as DNA. In 1978 I’m in a lab in college painstakingly counting anesthetized fruit flies, separating them by the color of their eyes and the curliness of their wings, breeding them and back-breeding them and again counting them, in order to determine their genetic make-up for my class final exam! The fruit fly is the first animal to have its genetic code fully mapped. Here I am standing in the courtyard where it all began! Unfortunately it was closed and under construction! But it was exciting non-the-less!
At least there was and information panel!
We moved on to other highlights in Brno!
The town hall, expanded and renovated over the centuries from medieval times!
The view from the Town Hall tower, with Spilberk Castle in the left distance.
Inside the Town Hall, the exterior stained glass is as beautiful as the more muted colors of the interior meeting room frescoes!
After a long day walking around town, up and down tower staircases, we headed back to our B&B.
Our view of the Cathedral all lit up for the night!