The grave of one of the world's most important scientists, Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884), who discovered the foundations of heredity during his experiments with the pea plant, is part of the tomb of the Augustinian Order at the Central Cemetery in Brno. The tomb of the Augustinian Abbey was built around 1885 according to a design by German Wanderley and the construction work was carried out by the Brno stone masonry firm of Johann Eduard Tomola. It is a listed neo-Renaissance sandstone tomb reminiscent of an altarpiece (retabulum).
On the area between the richly ornamented tombstone and the balustrade there are nine tombstones. The one on the far right bears the name of Gregor Mendel. The location of the grave is also indicated by two information plaques, one near Mendel's tombstone and the other on the cemetery's perimeter wall. The tomb underwent a comprehensive restoration in 2017-2018. Newly created statues of St. Augustine, the patron saint of the Order, and St. Rita, an Augustinian nun, were placed in the arcaded openings at the top of the tombstone at the Abbey's request. By contrast the emblem of the Order of Saint Augustine that is wedged among the figural decoration has been there originally.
Mendel's funeral took place on 9 January 1884, three days after his death caused by a protracted kidney and heart disease. The funeral mass was held in the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Old Brno and the requiem was conducted by Leoš Janáček, who received his primary musical education in the Augustinian Abbey. The funeral mass was followed by the interment of Mendel's remains here at the Central Cemetery. However, no one attending the funeral had any idea that they were saying goodbye to the discoverer of the foundations of heredity and the father of genetics. His work Versuche über Pflanzen-hybriden (Experiments with Plant Hybrids), describing the rules of transmission of traits to the next generation, was not appreciated and understood until 16 years after his death, in 1900.
