Chudenice
Chudenice is the town assigned to April in my photo project for this year so here I am, at the end of the month, to present some of the photos I took there. 35 photos again, as in the previous months, somehow the number feels good.
Chudenice is a small town with about 705 inhabitants and long history reaching back to 1200. The town and its history are closely connected with one of the oldest Czech noble families – the Czernin family.
The most interesting places you can see in the town are the old Czernin castle, church of John the Baptist, observation tower Bolfánek, bath house and manor with an English park, and arboretum.
The observation tower Bolfánek used to be a church of St. Wolfang where many pilgrimages took place until 1786 when the church was closed based on a decree issued by Joseph II., also pilgrimages were prohibited. The church was demolished but for its tower which later was remodelled into the observation tower.
The arboretum is called an “American garden”. It was first just a forest garden meant to grow decorative (predominantly North-American) wood species for the manor’s park, then it was turned into the arboretum. The oldest specimen we can see in the arboretum nowadays is Pseudotsuga menziesii planted there in 1843.
Not far from the arboretum, there is a pond that is said to have inspired Jaroslav Kvapil’s libretto for the opera Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák. When my hubby and I visited it, the pond looked somewhat mystical, I definitely can imagine that such a place could inspire someone to write poetry.
April has been exceptionally warm here this year and vigorous spring changes significantly altered the town between our visits. What a sight to see! From the photography point of view, it was interesting to notice that some spots looked more interesting in their winter coat while other profited from fresh greenery of new leaves and blooming trees.
As always, I feel obligated to say that the following selection of my photos is not intended to represent the town, it represents just a part of what I saw and felt captivated by.
Click on the photos to enlarge them if you want to see more.
