Benedikt Roezl - Prague, Czech Republic
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ToRo61
N 50° 04.426 E 014° 25.158
33U E 458446 N 5546993
Benedikt Roezl was Austrian traveller, gardener and botanist
Waymark Code: WMH5HQ
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 05/26/2013
Views: 69
Benedikt Roezl (13 August 1823, Horomeritz (Bohemia, Austrian Empire) - 14 October 1885, Prague) Austrian traveller, gardener and botanist. Probably the most famous collector of orchids of his time.
Traveller, gardener and botanist, Roezl was first trained as a gardener at Count Thun's gardens in northern Bohemia, western part of Czech kingdom in Austrian empire. After taking several gardening jobs in 1846 he started working as a gardener in the Louise van Houtte garden in the Belgian Gent.
Despite the loss of a hand, Roezl travelled the world and discovered over 800 species of orchid, with more than forty named in his honour.
Roezl was also the founder of one of the Czech botanical magazine Flora in 1880.
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Description of the statue
The bronze statue, life size, on a sandstone base approximately 2 meter high, a figure in work clothing with hat, in the left hand holds a plant, right hand holds a book. On the ground beside his feet sits a native.
His statue at the end of Karlovo namesti was created due to a colossal error of city counsellors of the New Town of Prague. Originally a statue of J. Ressel (
visit link) , the inventor of the ships' screw was to stand there. Finally a street was named for him.