In Kytlice in Děčínsk yesterday, dozens of people assisted in the felling of two spruces, which were headed to Prague on truck sets in the afternoon. In the metropolis, the Old Town and Wenceslas Squares will be decorated during the Christmas markets. For the first time ever, both trees are from the same place, one is 25 meters tall and the other 15 meters tall. It will be ceremonially lit on Saturday.

In a picturesque village in the Lužické Mountains, two spruce trees grew near one of the cottages. The owner of the house, Petr Kubice, who is from Prague, sent photos to the competition for a Christmas tree for the capital.

“We already applied last year, but we didn’t succeed, this year it worked,” he told reporters. “I found out about the competition on the Internet. It’s great that the trees from us will bring joy to many people,” said Valerie Kubicová, the owner’s daughter.

According to Kubice, one of the trees is 58 years old, the age of the other will be determined by dendrologists. Hana Tietze, a spokeswoman for the company Taiko, which organizes Prague’s Christmas markets, said that the choice is mainly based on aesthetics. “The tree must be beautiful, accessible for heavy equipment and healthy, both of which have been confirmed to us by experts,” she said.

Preparation for felling began on Saturday. Yesterday, around 50 people were on site from 06:00. According to woodcutter Jiří Vorlíček, the conditions were cramped. “High voltage on one side, railway line on the other. The space is not big,” he said before the felling.

The chainsaws went off at 10:00. Care was taken to ensure that the trees did not fall to the ground, so that the branches did not break, so they were hung on a crane. “Because of work safety and traffic safety, the event is extremely demanding,” he said.

Two truck sets set off from Kytlice on the closed road to Česká Kamenice shortly before 5:00 p.m. From there they continue through Děčín on the D8 highway. Before that, it was necessary to tie branch by branch to the trunk with clothesline so that the set was no wider than five meters.

“There is one bottleneck at Česká Kamenice, then the passage is no problem,” said Tomáš Jílek, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Technology of the City of Prague. According to Jílek, tolerance from drivers will also be necessary on the highway, as it is impossible to overtake the 29-meter-long train.

The destination of the trip yesterday was the area near Kralup nad Vltavou. Each tree will then go separately to Prague on the night from Monday to Tuesday, where they will be decorated from Tuesday. The lighting itself is planned for Saturday. Locals mainly came to Kytlica to see the felling yesterday, people from all over the country come to Prague every year for the Christmas markets.

“We are happy that our trees will decorate Prague. In addition, when we are the first village where two trees grow at the same time,” said Monika Hladíková (Kytlice our home), the mayor of the village, which has 475 inhabitants and which, thanks to the cottagers, is home to 1,500 people in the summer.