Vojanovy sady used to be an oasis in the middle of Prague
Vojanovy sady in Malá Strana, bordered by a high wall in Letenská Street and U Lužického semináře Street, is a pleasant oasis in the heart of the city. originally the orchard was part of the former episcopal court, founded in 1248. It survived through various social and historical upheavals.
Barefoot Carmelites
In 1653 the garden is an adjoining house bought by Ferdinand III. for the Order of Barefoot Carmelites, who had the chapel of St. Elijah in the form of a stalactite cave and under it buried their first prior Maria Elekt. Her remains, almost miraculously preserved intact, were later picked up and placed in the church of St. Benedict in Hradčany (currently located in the new monastery in Drasty in Prague-East).
In 1783, the Carmelites were replaced by the Congregation of the English Maidens, who adapted the garden as an English park with an artificial pond and conifers. After the establishment of the republic, the monastery complex was taken over by the Ministry of Finance and part of the garden was built with new buildings. In May 1954, it was opened to the public and named after the important Czech actor Eduard Vojan (1853 to 1920), who was born not far from here in Míšeňská Street and later lived in Klárov.
Meeting with Hanzelka
When you walk through the gate from U Lužického semináře street, you suddenly find yourself in another world. And because the gate closes for the night, those who remained inside the complex must have felt like they were in a romantic movie. Pavel Veselý (* 1961) and Václav Zeman (* 1960) remember this in the same way.
Pavel, who now works as a restorer, came here in 1981: “I was twenty and the first time I worked with my hands to find out soon that I really didn’t want to do this. At that time, I graduated from high school of arts and crafts and was looking for a job. I walked through that gate and saw boys with long hair picking fruit. So I thought: It’s paradise! And I immediately asked them if there was a chance to get a job. They sent me to their boss Jindřich Pavliz in the office and next to him sat the traveler Jiří Hanzelka. I had previously signed Charter 77, so I told him we had something in common. That’s good, he replied, we talked for a while and they took me. “
Black and white pictures were taken here in 1981 by Pavel Veselý.
Photo: Pavel Veselý and Zdeněk Kovařík
Inspiring environment
At that time, Václav Zeman was already working there: “I was adventurous and I was always looking for a job for a limited time. I changed jobs at geodesy, I did postmen, but I stayed in Vojanovy sady for several years. It was an incredibly stimulating environment – here you read about a snack of poetry, movies were shown. The artistic carver Martin Rázek, the future artist of Respekt Pavel Reisenauer, the artistic blacksmith Vladimír Marat, Mr. Jiránek, who was an aircraft mechanic in England during the war, Bronislav Zachrle, a stained glassmaker and restorer, worked here. start your own business. “
Václav Zeman also had artistic inclinations, studied at a promotional art school and got a job at Sady, lesy, zahradnictví (witnesses are well acquainted with the acronym SLZ) and will have two days a week to study.
“But the supervisor imposed so many responsibilities on me that I could barely pursue him and then did my schoolwork. In the end, I interrupted her and, together with other partners, I was persuaded by the charismatic Jiří Hanzelka, who cut and grafted trees on Petřín, to focus on pomology (the doctrine is about the types and varieties of fruit plants). So we signed up for an agricultural school in Poděbrady, where we went once a week for homework and where we passed exams. However, I did not graduate there until after the revolution, because before that it started to make it difficult for the local director, who hated the little ones. “
Zeman, who later founded his own gardening company, otherwise remembers working in Vojanovy sady. “Jindřich Pavliš tried to restore the summer-neglected parks, especially the Strahov and Seminar Gardens, which were overgrown with air raids. He teamed up with experts, a pomologist, Professor Karel Červenka, and landscape architect Václav Weinfurter. Based on their project, work was then done on Petřín, ”explains Zeman.
Carved nativity scene
“It was quite hard work, we worked mainly with rakes, shovels and pickaxes. We had two multicars at our disposal, mowers from Jihokov, which overheated at any moment, one chainsaw for the entire Petřín and one small tractor. There was no honey in the winter, when it was twenty degrees below zero and you had to have the sidewalks in front of the Government Office before six in the morning, “Zeman recalls.
In addition to Vojanovy sady and part of Petřín, twenty gardeners were also in charge of green areas in Klárov, Vrtbovská garden, Kampa and flower beds in Nerudova street opposite the U Dvou slunců pub.
“We also often slept in the greenhouse, where we had locker rooms because we would not be able to arrive from home in time in the morning. But again in the summer, after the closing time, we enjoyed ourselves here – swimming in the pond and making parties. At Christmas, we even started carving a nativity scene once, to which the Malostraňáci then brought sweets, “adds Pavel Veselý.
Greenhouse and small office of Jindřich Pavliš
Photo: Pavel Veselý and Zdeněk Kovařík
The story is a lot, but not all merry. It was at the hedge in Nerudovka that they once found a postponed dead newborn, and another time on Petřín they came across a hanged soldier from the Castle Guard.
Neighborhood tasting
Let’s go back to the personality of Jindřich Pavliš (1945–2011), who worked in Vojanovy sady since 1979, after the revolution he founded his own company and continued care for the Lesser Town greenery until his tragic death (he was hit by a car). His father had a rifle workshop in Jindřichův Hradec and he could not study at university due to his trade license. He got to the forestry research institute in Slapy and from there to the company Sady, lesy, zahradnictví in Prague.
His son of the same name also went to work with him in Vojanovy sady, and later he went to study at the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Science at Mendel University in Brno and worked on forestry projects in the world, but mainly in Africa. When his father died suddenly, he knew his company had to take over. And he continues the traditions his father established.
Even before 1989, Jindřich Pavliš organized semi-official exhibitions and concerts in Vojanovy sady and gradually added other events. At the beginning of October this year, Pavliš Jr. invited to Vojanovy sady for neighboring musts, he also participates in other meetings in Malá Strana and his company selflessly helps with the maintenance of greenery – for example for women from the Community Center in Kampa.
Loquat and sakura
Vojan’s orchards are open all year round. Majestic peacocks (there are thirty of them here) walk in every season, and yews and junipers are still just as beautiful. The local garden boasts ancient medlar, which was most popular during the reign of Charles IV. You will also find fig trees, pears, apples, plums, lindens and walnuts, magnolias and sakura.
And in the meantime there are three chapels, a pond, a fountain and a sundial, carved beehives in the shape of male faces, a sandstone sculpture Sitting Woman by Jan Kodet and more recently the Celestial Sphere by Vladimír Škoda, balls made of perforated steel plates. The legendary Jindřich Pavliš also has his memorial plaque here.