About Ludwig Reichenbach
Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach was a German botanist, ornithologist and illustrator. It was he who first requested Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate models for scientific education and museum showcasing, the successful commission giving rise to the creation of the Blaschkas' Glass sea creatures and, subsequently and indirectly, the more famous Glass Flowers. Sadly, however, the original six glass sea anemones purchased by Ludwig Reichenbach in 1863 as well as the rest of that first collection was destroyed in the Bombing of Dresden in World War II. However, the cemetery administration had not awarded the grave site, so that at the initiative of the Senckenberg Natural History Collections in Dresden, a stele was erected, which was unveiled on September 11, 2011. Reichenbach needed and, at last, provided an outlet for the wonder Leopold had felt all those years ago when observing the phosphorescent ocean life.
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