CUBE reports: The unexpected Visitor

For the portuguese who did not read in ecosfera and for those who do not know portuguese, here's is a quick summary of what happened on February the16th at Casa Andresen (Andresen House)

So according to ecosfera, Casa Andresen will be as of 2012 the gallery of Biodiversity, and its first stage is already finished and waiting for visitors. One of those visitors was no less than Camilla Whitworth-Jones, also known as one of the great-great-granddaughters of Charles Darwin.

From February to July, the gallery is demonstrating "A Evolução de Darwin" (Dawin's Evolution) and Camilla, while on holidays in Oporto, did not hesitate on having a look at this man's work. While walking around the exhibit, Camilla observed the life and work of Charles Darwin, a man that the former arts advisor says had always had a strong presence in her family but did not by any means influenced her choice of career.

Camilla visiting the ZSL London zoo 16/02/2009

Her visit was a surprise to everyone involved in the project and certainly can only mean that greater things will knock on the door of the house that was inspired by the famous portuguese poet, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen.

In one of her stories, named 'Saga', she wished the atrium of her house would have the assembled skeleton of a whale which for many years had remained packaged somewhere in one of the basements of the Faculdade de Ciências (Faculty of Sciences) because there was no place to put it.

The project, which is lead by the Universidade do Porto (University of Oporto), aims to create a tissue and DNA bank of all the species that can be found in the portuguese soil.

Casa Andresen

It is all very exciting news but surely there is still a long way to go. However, Camilla's approval certainly shines some positivism into the whole project, which will be a giant and important leap to the knowledge of all the living things that make up the country.

So if you're planning on visiting Portugal anytime soon, do not forget to have another great look into the life of Charles Darwin and while you're there, might as well check the beautiful city of Oporto and its surroundings :)