Harvard Museum of Natural History

On the hottest day of the year I find myself hiking through Harvarad Square ... that was not pleasant,

... but once inside there were many treasures to behold.

A sleeping giant

(part of him anyway)

The famous 'glass flowers'

"Are they really glass ?" --- YES, the models are made entirely of glass, often reinforced internally with wire support. 
The naturalists and consummate glass artisans, Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka, created the nearly 4,400 models. 
The models were  made from 1886 through 1936 at Blaschkas' studio located in Hosterwitz, near Dresden, Germany.

The life-size models include over 800 species with remarkably accurate anatomical sections and enlarged flower parts.  Since the flowers are always in bloom, tropical and temperate species may be studied year-round.

*****

Mrs. Elizabeth C. Ware and her daughter, Mary Lee Ware, financed the collection and presented it to the Botanical Museum of the Harvard University as a memorial to

Dr. Charles Eliot Ware,

Class of 1834

~  Fossils  ~

~~ minerals
and
gem stones!!

 Geodes and Crystals

all in different...

sizes,

shapes,

 and

colors!

There were masks...

                                      and feathers

 Paintings ...

 and carvings ...

All kinds of interesting and different things to see...

 and wonder about.

 (and the entire museum is airconditioned (sort of !)