Lake Pond – Aquarium lacustre
“The Lake Pond, which is star-shaped and an excellent masterpiece of the gardener’s, contains only plants with floating leaves, such as Nymphaea lutea and alba, Hydrocharis, etc.”
Carl Linnaeus, Hortus Upsaliensis 1745
The gardener who built the pond was named Dietrich Nietzel and had been recruited by Linnaeus from Holland. In front of the pond, Linnaeus placed a statue of Venus, bought in 1758 from Piperska trädgården in Stockholm. It caused a scandal in Uppsala, as the Medicean Venus was completely naked.
Common newts Triturus vulgaris prosper in the pond’s sun-warmed water. Linnaeus thought that they caused much damage in Uppsala’s fishponds, but that they could be got rid of by pouring salt into the water. Today it is a protected species.