Glass Flowers Boston
A Botanical Masterpiece in Glass
Boston is home to many renowned museums, but today, one in particular captivated me—the Harvard Museum of Natural History. I had been meaning to visit for quite some time, drawn by a collection that perfectly blends my fascination with flowers and my appreciation for glass: the Blaschka Glass Plant Models Ware Collection, more commonly known as Glass Flowers.
The moment I stepped inside, I headed straight for this exhibit. As soon as I entered, I was astonished. The plants displayed under glass cases couldn’t possibly be made of glass—they looked too real! Their colors, the intricate details, even the delicate transparency of some pieces were simply unbelievable.
This extraordinary collection was commissioned by George Lincoln Goodale, the first director of Harvard’s Botanical Museum. Created between 1887 and 1936 by the father-and-son team Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka in their Hosterwitz studio near Dresden, Germany, these models were groundbreaking. At the time, botany was taught using rudimentary papier-mâché or wax models, but Goodale envisioned a more accurate way to represent plant life for students. Over fifty years, the Blaschkas meticulously crafted 4,300 glass models depicting 780 plant species. The collection consists of 847 life-sized models and over 3,000 enlarged representations.
Now a permanent exhibit at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Glass Flowers attract 200,000 visitors annually. Regarded as one of Harvard’s most treasured collections, it remains the only one of its kind in the world. If you’re in Boston, make sure to experience this breathtaking collection for yourself—you truly won’t believe your eyes!
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