Tuesday, February 21, 2023

2月19日(日曜日)2023

    うちにいてばかりも良くないと今日は近場のハーバード博物館へ行ってみました。久しぶりに訪れた構内をキョロキョロしながら目的地に近づくと、結構人が集まっています。中へ入ると更に混んでいて驚きましたが直ぐに理由が分かりました。日曜の午前はマサチューセッツ州に住む人は無料で入館できるとのこと。どおりで家族連れが多いわけです。水曜日の午後3時から5時も無料とのこと。

    この博物館の目玉はガラスでできた植物の標本です。以前はシダなどの葉がほとんどでしたが、今回はむしろ花をつけた植物が多かったです。細部にまで実に精巧にできています。昔、植物の保存ができなかった時にドイツでこの手法が生まれたと聞いています。    

    隕石や宝石のところは今度見ることにして、恐竜と動物のはく製のところへ行ってみました。恐竜には特に興味もなかった私ですが、多賀がアケボノ象の骨で有名になっていることから太古の動物にも関心を持つようになりました。恐竜好きの子供なら狂喜するだろうと思うほどたくさん展示してあります。続く世界の動物や鳥のはく製の展示は狭いケースにぎっしりと入っています。ガラス越しではありますが、大きな虎や象などがすぐそばにいるのはなかなかの迫力です。

    カフェによく来られる「動物博士」のOさんがここにいたらきっと嬉々として詳しい説明をしてくれるだろうなと思いながら、展示の動物たちを見て歩きました。

    I visited Harvard Museum which is not far from my house, because I thought that staying home all the time is not good for me. The museum is located in Harvard campus and I walked around to find the museum. I saw many people were at the entrance area and it was crowded which made me a bit surprised. Soon I realized that Sunday morning is free of charge to the residents of Massachusetts and that's why it was crowded with many family members. The museum is also open to the residents from Wednesday 3pm to 5pm.

    This museum is famous for the exhibition of the Glass Flowers. As I remember, they used to exhibit mostly fern and other leaves but this time they exhibit many plants with flowers. Each one was made extremely detailed and fine and it is hard to believe they are not real. I heard that the technique was born in Germany in order to preserve it before a new technique was invented using some chemicals to preserve the fresh plants.

    I skipped the Meteorites and Gemstones exhibition and went to the Dinosaur and animal section. In fact, I was not very interested in dinosaurs before, but since my town, Taga, got attention from the Akebono elephant (Stegodon aurorae), I became interested in those ancient animals. There are so many exhibitions that a kid who likes dinosaurs must be overjoyed. Mounted animals and birds sections were next to the dinosaurs. They were in a tight glass case and it was an overwhelming feeling because big wild animals such a tiger or elephant were just near you even though they were not alive any more.

    I was thinking of Mr.O who often comes to my cafe because he has so much knowledge about animals and insects and if he were there, he would explain very well about those animals.