Botanical Collection

The foundation of the botanical collection was laid by the so-called Liptov Collection of 1904. Its custodian, Václav Vraný, originally from Chvaletice in Bohemia, served as a teacher and church notary in Liptovský Mikuláš and was widely recognised as an authority on the Carpathian flora. The museum owes to Vraný a historically significant and valuable, albeit numerically modest, botanical assemblage comprising not only herbarium specimens but also his hand-coloured drawings of plants and insects. The present botanical collection is organised into vascular plants and non-vascular plants. It contains herbarium sheets, wood samples in cross-section, botanical models, acrylic resin preparations, and a bryophyte collection gathered from the vicinity of cave entrances in the Jánska Valley and adjacent areas. This bryophyte series was initiated between 2000 and 2003 through systematic field collection. The seed and fruit collection, a distinct component of the museum’s botanical holdings, has been developed since 2000. Its establishment was prompted by the museum’s exhibition Seeds and Fruits of Our Trees and Shrubs. Most items originate from the territory of Slovakia, with several dozen specimens of foreign provenance acquired during staff field trips abroad.

In addition to the historically valuable collection of Václav Vraný, the depository also preserves the herbaria of I. Stodola and K. Illyes, both dating from the early 20th century.           

Curators:  Ing. Maroš Peiger