Tree-of-life inlaid into ceiling

The exhibit is part of the celebrations for Darwin's 200th anniversary. Enlarge Image

A wafer-thin longitudinal section of an oak tree from the Longleat estate has been inlaid in to a ceiling at London's Natural History Museum.

At more than 17 metres long, the work, placed as if it were on a microscopic slide, will become the largest botany specimen on display at the museum.

The work was inspired by Charles Darwin's tree-of-life diagram, representing evolution.

Artist Tania Kovats said she wanted to create an "immersive experience".

'Permanent artwork'

"The tree is a model of connectivity, ancestry and genealogy. Each divergence of the branching form traces change or chance, but with an origin that you can retrace.

"In this humble sketch Darwin was mapping out the future of biological knowledge and set in motion an investigation that we are still engaged with today," Ms Kovats added.

The artwork was chosen in summer 2008 from an exhibition in which 10 artists exhibited their proposals.

The idea was to create a new permanent artwork to celebrate Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

To mark the endurance of Darwin's idea, 200 oak saplings will be planted this year in the Longleat Estate in Wiltshire, creating a growing monument to the theory of evolution.