In memory of the world-famous palaeontologist Joachim Barrande (1799–1883) Czech scientist had a huge inscription BARRANDE made a year after his death, well visible from afar even today. It is fixed directly to the rock above the rich Proterozoic deposits. Barrande worked in Bohemia as a private researcher and he bequeathed his extensive collection to the National Museum.

Joachim Barrande described over 3 500 species of mainly Proterozoic fauna in his work Système silurien du centre de la Bohême (Silurian System of Central Bohemia, 1852-1881). In his time, the temporal division of the Proterozoic had not yet been established, and Barrande calls this entire formation the Silurian, but his own division into so-called étages corresponds fairly closely to the present division. In addition to his collecting activities, he also devoted himself to the description of the geological structure of the investigated localities. Barrande noticed that in some places the younger fauna of the Silurian appears in older Ordovician strata. He described this discontinuity as colonies of a new species that, like the European settlers in the New World, appear in an older rock formation. This view was rejected by many palaeontologists and geologists of the time, such as Jan Krejčí. He correctly pointed out that the presence of younger fauna in the older strata is due to movements on the rock boundaries. Although critics of Barrande`s theory suspected that the presence of colonies was somehow related to the deformation of the layers during folding, none of the opponents were able to present the right arguments. British researchers were also sent into the field to challenge the theory. Convinced of his truth, Barrande spent the final years of his life mostly writing “defences of the colonies” (Défense des Colonies, 1861–1881) in which he addressed the reservations and often factually erroneous findings of his opponents. Jan Krejčí later withdrew his criticism, but probably not out of conviction but out of fear that Barrande might in the future bequeath his collections to someone else then the Patriotic Museum. In his obituary after Barrande`s death, Krejčí collegially noted that thanks to this dispute, Barrande had made scientific discoveries that would otherwise have remained hidden.

Czech scientists paid tribute to Barrande with a plaque (or slab) bearing his name on a richly folded limestone rock, also bearing his name. The rock wall was chiselled and polished by a stonemason company to make place for the inscription. The inscribed plaque is 4.8 m long, 1.4 m tall and weighs 1 600 kg.

Horný, R., Turek, V.: Joachim Barrande (1799–1893), Život, dílo a odkaz světové paleontologii. Národní muzeum, přírodovědecké muzeum, Praha 1999, 56 pp.

Marek, J., Šarič, R., Kácha, P.: Joachim Barrande, Říkali mu jemnostpán – People called him gentle man. Česká geologická služba, Praha 2013, 66 pp.

Kříž, J.: Joachim Barrande. Český geologický ústav, Praha 1999.

Svoboda, J., Prantl, F.: Barrandien. Geologie středočeského siluru a devonu v obrazech. ČSAV Praha 1958, s. 33─54.

Chlupáč, I. (eds.): Paleozoikum Barrandienu. Český geologický ústav, Praha 1992.

Chlupáč, I., Budil, I.: Tajemné hlubiny času. Academia, Praha 2006.

A profile sketch of the Barrande Rock made by Radim Kettner (1963) shows the position of the plaque in the system of folds visible on the rock wall. (Author: National Museum)

The current look of the commemorative plaque (Author: public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barrandov_Rocks1.JPG)

Commemorative Plaque to J. Barrande on Barrande Rock in Prague