Karol Linneusz, Wrocław

Here, among the Botanical Garden’s plant-systematics collection, the bust of Karol Linneusz turns a botanist into a landmark. The monument occupies the meeting point of several garden paths. Albert Rachner created it, and Moritz Wesel provided the funding in 1870; the unveiling came on the twenty-third of May 1871.

Its design is intentionally formal: a realistic, closely detailed portrait bust rises from a two-metre brick pedestal with classical styling. Notice the name “Linné” on the pedestal, a compact inscription beneath the portrait. The monument suffered slight damage during the Second World War, and Antonio Comolli restored the missing parts of the bust.

The sandstone then continued to deteriorate over time. In 2001, the original bust was moved indoors to the lecture hall for conservation. The sculpture on the pedestal now is a replacement made by Professor Bohdan Chmielewski. So the monument you see preserves Linnaeus’s presence at this crossroads of garden paths, while the nineteenth-century original receives protection indoors.