• Places in Czech Republic

    Weekend of open gardens – Part 3 – Meditation garden

    The third garden which we visited in Pilsen within the Weekend of open gardens was the “Memorial to victims of evil” also known as a “Meditation garden” or the “Hruška’s garden”. There was a man, Mr. Hruška, who spent more than 10 years as a political prisoner in a communist prison. When he came home in 1960, he started to remodel his fruit garden and changed it into an ornamental park. Though he had a job, he was attending lectures on garden architecture in a far city. He chopped down fruit trees and planted ornamental trees and bushes, created water and grassy areas. He wanted to commemorate suffering of those…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Weekend of open gardens – Part 2 – Arboretum Sofronka

    Within the Weekend of open gardens which I mentioned in my previous post we also visited Arboretum Sofronka and I would like to introduce it to you now. All the following photos were taken in the arboretum. Arboretum Sofronka which is situated in Pilsen (Plzeň) was established in 1956 as a workplace of Research institute of forest management and hunting with the intention of doing research into pine tree breeding. In 2009 the workplace was cancelled and the arboretum was taken over by the city Pilsen. The place itself doesn’t look extraordinary, it feels like just a forest. But when you start to focus on what’s around you, you’ll find…

  • Places in Czech Republic

    Weekend of open gardens – Part 1 – Luft’s Garden

    Some time ago I noticed a poster in a street inviting those passing by to visit a garden belonging to a Dominican monastery within an event called “Weekend of open gardens”. As I had never heard of such an event, that invitation caught my attention and I thought about finding more pieces of information on the Internet when I get home. But you know what, soon I had other things on my mind and if it wasn’t for my colleague who reminded me of that event when the weekend was close, I would have missed that. The “Weekend of open gardens” is inspired by the English “Open Garden & Squares…