About the Manuscript

Document written in Mendel’s own hand

One of the most valuable pieces of memorabilia owned by the Old Brno Abbey is an original manuscript by Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) from 1865, titled Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden (‘Experiments on Plant Hybrids’).

It is a unique document, hand-written by Mendel in neo-Gothic italics (so-called current), consisting of 12 double-sheets in which Mendel summarized the results of his many years of experiments in heredity. It is an essential work documenting the beginnings of genetic research and the only surviving direct evidence of Mendel’s key experiments.

Augustinian Monastery

It was here in Old Brno, at the Augustinian monastery, that between 1854 and 1864 Mendel experimented by cross-breeding the common pea plant to discover how their individual traits were inherited. He prepared his experiments carefully, and it was no coincidence that he chose this particular plant because he knew all about its advantages. He bought 34 varieties of pea and then monitored the stability of their traits for two years. Finally, he chose 14 varieties that showed pairs of seven well-distinguished traits (pairs of varieties with yellow seeds and green seeds, or purple and white flowers, etc.)

Mendel’s work

The results of his experiments were given in a lecture over two consecutive meetings of the Naturforschender Verein (Natural History Society) on February 8 and March 8, 1865, in the building of the Realschule at 22 Jánská Street.

The world would probably not have learned about Mendel’s work or his two-part lecture without Gustav Niessl von Mayendorf, secretary of the Natural History Society. He requested the manuscript of the lecture from Mendel and published it in the Society’s yearbook titled Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereines in Brünn in 1866. On the title page of Mendel’s manuscript is still Niessel’s handwritten note for an order of 40 copies for Mendel himself. Mendel sent special copies to scientists he thought might understand his work.

In addition to these special copies, the Natural History Society distributed voluminous yearbooks containing Mendel’s work to 133 learned societies, scientific academies, universities and associations in Europe and beyond.

Mendel’s writings

At the time, however, his experiments were not appreciated, and Mendel was not rediscovered as the founder of genetics until after his death in 1900. This is also the reason why his written legacy was initially treated so carelessly. After 1900, however, interest in Mendel’s life and work grew. It soon became apparent that very few original manuscripts had been preserved, especially those relating to his research. There was even a suspicion that Mendel had destroyed all his writings before his death.

Fortunately, during a search Mendel’s manuscript of this crucial lecture turned up in a waste bin, and was kept in the archives of the Natural History Society. It was discovered there by Mendel’s first biographer, Dr Hugo Iltis. The plan was to sell the document and channel the proceeds towards the society’s activities. However, the sale did not take place and the manuscript remained in the possession of the Natural History Society in Brno until 1945, stored in a safe at a bank.

After liberation, however, the manuscript disappeared, and it was suspected that it had been taken away to some unknown location by the German management of the society before the liberation of Brno. For decades it was considered lost.

According to some sources, at the end of the war Mendel’s manuscript was in the custody of members of the Augustinian province in Bohemia, later the Augustinian vicariate in Vienna. In 1987 it was lent to Augustinians in Germany, where it was allegedly held by the Augustinian priest Clemens Richter of Salzburg, a descendant of Mendel’s sister Veronica. It was not until the summer of 1992 that a facsimile of the original manuscript was published in Germany, thereby implying the existence of its original source.

The work was kept with members of Mendel’s family, but thanks to Czech diplomats and Vatican support, the German side and Mendel’s descendants were persuaded that the manuscript was still the property of the Old Brno Monastery, since everything monks do within a monastery belongs to that institution.

After difficult negotiations, this pioneering work from the dawn of genetics finally returned to the Czech Republic in 2012, after 25 years. But three years later, under strange circumstances, the document was taken back to Vienna. Further negotiations followed, this time lasting a year, in order to return this ‘family silver of humankind’ back to its place of origin – the Old Brno Monastery.

Mendel in the words of others...

I first came across the figure of G. J. Mendel as a student when I was 20 years old. It was not even possible before, because genetics – as a ‘bourgeois pseudoscience’ – was banned in our country. In the centenary year of the publication of Mendel’s pioneering work, when genetics was rehabilitated, I was fortunate to be able not only to learn about this science and the history of its discovery, but also to pass on the knowledge that I’d gained.

Throughout my professional life I have never stopped admiring Mendel, who was allowed to show his genius and tenacity in the favourable environment of the Augustinian monastery and make a discovery that represented ‘the greatest discovery in biology in five centuries’. I appreciate his courage in setting out to discover the principles of heredity in a completely original way. This self-same originality ensured his findings were not understood for a long time, due to the level of knowledge at the time.

However, Mendel himself was convinced that ‘my time will come’. And that’s what happened. Thanks Gregor!

Jiřina Relichová, Professor of Genetics