A lotus is rooted in mud and reaches upwards, towards heaven. The lotus root was the inspiration behind Nine Gates to Heaven, which Janneke van Dijk (1944- ) designed for the pond near the bust of Linnaeus in the arboretum on De Dreijen. The dimensions were specifically tailored to this location. The idea behind Nine Gates to Heaven came about in the run-up tot the 300th anniversary of the birth of Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist and biologist who established the practice of binomial nomenclature of organisms. This cross-section of a lotus root reveals the cellular structure – the nine ‘black holes’ that symbolise the unknown and the unexpected. The statue can now be found on the western side of Helix.

More info at: WUR Image Collections